


i ain't changed, but i know i ain't the same

by humanluke



Series: 1990s au [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst and Feels, Boys Kissing, Falling In Love, Hand Jobs, Holding Hands, M/M, McDonald's, Mutual Pining, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining, Pop Star Luke Hemmings, Small Towns, Whirlwind Romance, movie theater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:40:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29904000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanluke/pseuds/humanluke
Summary: michael clifford is an employee at the local mall. luke hemmings is a pop star on his mall tour. what happens when the two of them cross paths?
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Luke Hemmings
Series: 1990s au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2198838
Comments: 16
Kudos: 20





	i ain't changed, but i know i ain't the same

**Author's Note:**

> strap in lads, i have a LOT to say about this one!
> 
> first of all, i want to thank [molly](http://staticsounds.tumblr.com) for being my sounding board for this fic and encouraging me to write it. without you, this wouldn't have turned into this monstrosity that is is now, AND it wouldn't even be muke. i love you so much. secondly, thank you to [brooke](http://blackbutterfliescal.tumblr.com), my darling wife, who has been here to listen to me yell about this since day one and was generous enough to make me a moodboard for this fic which i am SO grateful for. thirdly, thank you to [amanda](http://lifewasradical.tumblr.com) for leaving me stellar comments on my google docs and yelling at me to keep writing when i needed it most. your enthusiasm fuels me. thank you to my roommate and best friend [gwen](http://ashwaifu.tumblr.com) for putting up with me talking nonstop about this and listening to nothing but 90s music with me for the past week. you're forever my favorite human on the planet. thank you also to the remainder of the lhfc, without your love and support who knows if i would keep writing as i do. 
> 
> so, a little backstory: i had a brilliant idea about making luke hemmings a 90s pop star on a mall tour. that was it, the whole idea. lovely molly said "make it muke". this was supposed to be short and sweet, just a little meet cute thing, and here i am, almost 25k later. there are three playlists that go with this fic: [mike's mixtape](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3cCA6BOIjlibDgyTwLrVHY?si=efcd04e6f0d149ee), [luke's mixtape](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/53EoDRhmxc4xYgc3niNArP?si=9c45edafcfad4479), and [this playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5EJtlGGec7ONqQ3MKf0KDD?si=eae2d76455b1416e) that contains both mixtapes and songs that fit the vibes of the fic. if you're still reading this a/n, thank you for sticking with me through all of this. i hope you enjoy!
> 
> title is from 'one headlight' by the wallflowers!

Michael sighs as he leans against the register, looking around at the empty store. It’s the emptiest it’s been in weeks, people lining up to pick up the newest toys and games for their kids in the lead up to the holiday season. The mall outside of the Kay-bee Toys is bustling with customers, mostly pre-teen and teenaged girls giggling and wandering around the mall. Michael checks his watch -- it’s not even three yet. He’s only been there for an hour, and he already wants to crawl under the register and take a nap. 

Normally the store is much busier on a Saturday, filled with parents and their kids snatching up the latest toys and games lining their shelves. But there seems to be some up and coming pop star playing a concert right in the food court today, so that leaves his store empty as most of the mall is occupied with too many girls that have no interest in the Nintendo 64 or the newest selection of beanie babies. No, they were too occupied with this artist coming to visit. 

Michael wasn’t one for that kind of music, opting to listen to more music like Nirvana and Radiohead. So he was pretty out of the loop, and probably wouldn’t have known anything was going on if it wasn’t for the large crowds and his coworker, Ashton, telling him it’s been slow all morning because of it. Michael checks his watch again -- it’s only been five minutes since the last time he’s looked at it, and he groans as he pretends to smash his forehead against the cash register. 

“If you hit your head on that, I’m not letting you go home,” Ashton calls from up the aisle, giving him a stern look. Michael looks up at him and pouts. He and Ashton were pretty good friends, he thinks, but Ashton’s also his supervisor, so he usually has to behave around him to get what he wants. 

“Today’s going to suck,” he sighs, running his fingers through his blond locks as he smooths over the front of his store-issued polo. Ashton nods in response, straightening some new Cabbage Patch Kids dolls they’d gotten in last week. He steps back with a grin, pleased with his work as he crosses over to Michael at the register. 

“No, today is going to be great,” he corrects him. “A nice change of pace from selling out systems all weekend long, you know?” Ashton stretches his arms up over his head as Michael rolls his eyes a little bit, leaning his elbows on the counter. “If there’s time to lean, there’s time to clean.”

“I would clean if I hadn’t already done that for the first 30 minutes of my shift,” Michael whines, flopping his arms over the counter and pressing his face against the cool counter. It smells like lemon pledge from the aforementioned cleaning he’d already done. 

“Well, do _something_ that at least looks productive, please,” he asks. “I’m going on break. Do you want anything from the food court?” Michael pulls his face from the counter to look up at him. 

“You’re a brave man for going to the food court with all of --” he gestures out the door “--that going on out there. But if you brought me a coffee… I would be forever in your debt.” Ashton just chuckles a little bit. 

“I’m pretty sure some teenage girls aren’t going to kill me, Mike,” he says with a shake of his head. “Okay, I’ll be back with some coffee. Just… go straighten or _something_ , please. I don’t want someone walking in here with you just laying over the counter like that.” Michael sighs as he stands back up straight. 

“I’ll go see if I can organize the beanie babies or something,” he sighs with a wave of his wrist. Ashton grins at him, giving him a thumbs up.

“Now that’s what I like to hear,” he says. “I’ll be back shortly. Don’t burn down the store while I’m gone.” 

“I wish I could,” Michael jokes wistfully, and Ashton glares at him a little bit, to which he puts his hands up. “I’m joking, Ash. Go take your break.” Ashton just gives him another look before heading out into the chaos that is the mall, and Michael just shakes his head and thanks himself that he knew better than to go out into the mall when there was a concert supposed to be happening sometime shortly. 

He does keep his word, however, making his way over to the beanie baby display, starting to organize them slowly by type as he regrettably hums along to whatever pop song is playing over the intercom - Spice Girls, he thinks it is, if he remembers right. He hates that he’s been here long enough to know the words to the songs that play on the work’s radio, but Ashton refuses to let him change it to a different station since it’s “against company policy”. Fuck that guy sometimes, honestly. 

He does a pretty good job with the beanie babies (or at least, _he_ thinks so), and he turns to see a couple of guys hanging outside of the doorway, talking in hushed tones. Michael puts on his customer service persona, smoothing over the pant legs of his stupid khakis as they step inside. His eyes immediately fall on the tall, lanky blond man, hawaiian shirt half unbuttoned as he pushes hair out of his eyes, looking around the store nervously. 

“Anything I can help you two find?” he asks, trying to shove his attraction to men back into the tiny box in the back of his head. The blond looks at him nervously, and the other man, dressed in all black and looking intimidating covered in some very impressive looking tattoos, just nods to him to let him know it’s okay. Michael has to remind himself for a second time to shove that attraction to the back of his brain because the gentle smile the blond gives him sends a shiver up his spine in the weirdest way. He hates it here. 

“Um, actually, I need double A batteries if you have any, and I was also wondering if you had Tetris Attack in stock? The Electronics Boutique was all out. Of the batteries and the game.” Michael offers Cute Hawaiian Shirt Man a smile of his own, making his way around the counter to grab the game cabinet keys for the cabinet in the back of the store. 

“I am pretty sure we do, let me go check real quick,” he offers with a grin. He tries to ignore his heart jackhammering in his chest over a cute man he’s never seen before, taking a breath as he makes his way to the back of the store. He can feel both pairs of eyes following him to the back of the store, glad he’s out of their sight when he gets to the game cabinet, hidden by rows of toys. His eyes look over the cabinet and he spots the copy of Tetris Attack - it’s one of the last ones, fairly popular since it was portable over it’s console version - and he snags it out from behind the glass, locking it back up and shoving the keys into the front pocket of his khakis before heading up front. 

The blond and his short haired friend are talking quietly again, fingers toying at the necklace dangling around his neck, and Michael has to mentally psych himself back up before going back to speak to him. He sets the game on the counter and tosses the keys back into the drawer, pulling the attention back onto himself. 

“Did you have it?” he asks, and when he sees the game box sitting on the counter, wrapped up in plastic, he grins excitedly, blue eyes lighting up. He snags a pack of double A’s off the rack in front of the counter. “I really needed something to play in my Game Boy to keep me busy for the rest of the day. Thank God you had it.” 

“Last one too,” Michael says with a grin, punching in the prices on the register. “What are you two doing braving the mall on a day like today, anyways? It’s pure suicide out there. Teens as far as the eye can see.” Michael makes a face, and the other two exchange a quick look at one another, both in slight disbelief. 

“Well, you see--” 

“Just needed something to get through the day,” the other guy cuts the blond off, giving him a knowing look, and the blond just catches his bottom lip between the teeth. “I’m Calum, by the way. And this is Luke. We’re in town for a couple days, doing some… sightseeing.” Luke gives him another gentle smile from across the counter, and Michael wants to bury himself alive. He doesn’t know why these strangers are introducing themselves to him, but he’ll just roll with it. 

“Well, there isn’t much to see, so good luck with that,” he laughs. “I’m Michael, as the name tag suggests.” He gestures to the flimsy piece of plastic hanging on his shirt, that has his name along with a Lisa Frank unicorn sticker a little girl had stuck on there during an event one day. (He secretly liked it too much to take it off.) “The total is going to be 21.78.” 

“Oh, no sales tax?” Cute Hawaiian Shirt Boy Luke says with a smile. “Perfect.” He pulls out his wallet, handing Michael the exact change (much to his liking -- he hated having to do math). Michael puts the money in the register and bags up his batteries and new game before sliding it over the counter. 

“Well, I hope you enjoy your copy of Tetris Attack,” he says with a grin. “I’ve got it for my SNES at home, but it’s just as fun on the Game Boy, I think.” Luke offers him a shy smile as he tucks a little bit of blond hair out of his face, and Michael’s pretty sure his heart skips a beat. Maybe he’s dying. He hopes he’s not dying. Although maybe he could fall right into this cute man’s arms and die there. That would be nice, right? Luke is talking and he’s missed half of what he’s said, fuck. 

“...since we’re not on the bus all the time, it’s good to have a portable copy,” he catches, and he’s missed the first half of his sentence, and he’s wildly confused as to why Luke would be on a bus. Maybe he took a bus here? That had to be it. Calum is giving Luke a pointed look, to which he just shrugs innocently in response to. 

“Yeah, portable is good,” he says with a nervous laugh. He looks at his watch. He hopes Ashton is back soon, he doesn’t know if he can last much longer talking to this incredibly attractive man without making an entire ass of himself. “I always bring my Game Boy with me when I work long shifts here. So I can play on my lunch in the food court while I eat way too much fried food.” Luke giggles in response, and Michael’s pretty sure he’s just ascended onto a new plane. He really needs to get his shit together. Or Ashton needs to come back with his coffee. He’s pretty sure the latter will come first. 

“What games do you play? I’m always looking for new recommendations,” he asks, blue eyes big as he leans against the counter. Michael’s going to have to clean it again because he’s getting his big sexy smell all over it and Michael thinks he might pass out if he has to smell it all day. 

“Oh, a little bit of everything,” he says with a shrug. “I love Link’s Awakening, Kirby’s Dream Land, Donkey Kong. I read about some new game that came out in Japan earlier this year called Pokemon or something in a magazine a couple weeks ago that sounds super fun. I hope we get over here.” Luke’s looking at him with a dreamy smile, and Michael feels himself flush from head to toe. “Enough of me being a total dweeb, what about you? What do you play? And what are you doing in the middle of Nowheresville, USA?” 

“Like Cal said, just doing some sightseeing on my… tour across the states,” he says with a little bit of a shrug. “Trying to see the whole country, you know.” Michael lets out a small ‘oh’, wondering how someone could feasibly afford doing something like that. Maybe he came from money or something. “As for games, I like a good puzzle game. Zelda’s fun too, though, I liked Link’s Awakening. But I prefer playing Link to the Past on my SNES.” Michael’s pretty sure he wants to marry this man in front of him. You know, if that was something he could actually do. 

“You’ve got some good taste there, my friend,” he says with a smile as he leans over the counter a little bit. Luke giggles in return, and Calum comes up to him and taps on his watch expectantly. 

“Oh, is that the time?” Luke asks sadly. “Well, I’ve got to get going. But I might be back later to buy some more games from you, Michael.” He leans over the counter and taps Michael’s name on his name tag, which causes a volcano to erupt inside of his stomach. 

“Well, I’ll be right here until closing, so if you get really bored,” he says with a nervous laugh that he tries to cover up. Luke shoots him another one of those gentle, dazzling grins, and Michael’s absolutely going to die now. He can feel himself practically going into cardiac arrest. 

“It was nice meeting you!” he says enthusiastically, taking his bag and holding it close. “I hope to be back soon!” 

Michael watches the two of them slip out into the busy mall, and Michael pulls out the cleaning supplies to wipe the counter down again. God, he’s so fucking gone for this absolute stranger. He scrubs at the counter a little too hard, much to Ashton’s glee as he walks in with coffee for the two of them. 

“Glad to see you working hard, Mike,” he says with a grin. “That concert’s about to start soon, so the next hour or so is going to be long, I think.” He slides the coffee cup over the counter to Michael, and he looks at him with grateful eyes. “Was it nice and slow while I was gone?”

“Only had one customer, sold our last copy of Tetris Attack for the Game Boy,” he says nonchalantly with a shrug. “The beanie babies are looking mighty fine, however.” Ashton turns to look at them, coffee in his hand as he looks them over approvingly. 

“Color coded and everything, good job,” he says with a grin, and Michael feels his heart swell a little at the praise. “I’m going to go work on some paperwork in the office, if you need me for anything, just holler, okay?” Michael nods in response, finishing removing the smell of the Cute Man off of his counter. Finally, some fucking peace. He watches as Ashton puts himself in the back room and he slumps back over the counter, thoughts of Luke, The Cute Hawaiian Shirt Man, consuming his every thought.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Ashton lets Michael leave an hour early because of how slow they are, and Michael is head over heels. (He’s going to miss the pay for the hour, probably, but he’ll make up for it by eating leftover chinese tonight for dinner while he watches reruns of X-Files on tv.)

He thinks that he can take some of his extra money from his last paycheck and go pick up the newest Weezer cassette. It had been out for a little while now and he’d heard some mixed things about it, but he had faith that it would live up to his expectations. He waved goodbye to Ashton, untucking his work polo and pulling it off, pulling his flannel over his plain white shirt before shoving his work shirt into his bag.  
He makes his way into the Sam Goody, the mall mostly empty now since it’s an hour to close. The bustling crowds from earlier are gone, just a handful of parents and teens left roaming the corridors of the mall now. He hums to himself, making his way over to the section of cassettes he knows he’s looking for. He passes the CD section, thinking about how he’s going to have to upgrade eventually, but he shoves the thought to the back of his head as he looks for the album he was looking for. 

“Michael?” he hears sofly. He looks up, the copy of _Pinkerton_ between his fingers and he nearly drops it when he sees Luke approaching him. He’s wearing a different shirt than earlier, a long sleeve color block that looks like it’s slightly too big for him, but it looks cute on him. He wonders how they could even make a shirt too large for this man. “I went to go see you but your manager said he let you off early. I thought I might miss you.” His heart skips a beat again. Man, he needs to stop seeing Luke. He’s going to have heart problems that persist from his cute face. 

“Yeah, he let me go because the store’s been dead all day,” he says with a shrug. “Thought I would pick up a new cassette before I walked home and shoved myself full of leftover takeout.” Luke smiles at him, and Michael swallows a little harder. “I’m surprised you’re still here, though. It’s been what, 4 hours since you came to see me?” 

“Like you said, not much else to do around here, is there?” he says with a laugh. “But I told you I would come back to see you.” He looks at the Weezer tape in Michael’s hands. “What’s that you’re getting?” 

“Oh, just Weezer’s newest album,” he says with a little bit of a laugh. 

“Is that the kind of music you listen to?” Luke asks curiously, tilting his head a little bit. “Weezer, they have that Buddy Holly song, right?” Michael laughs a little bit, nodding in agreement. 

“Yeah, they do,” he says with a shrug, leaning against the rack a little bit. “I mean, I like plenty of stuff. This, Green Day, Radiohead, Nirvana, Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins… my taste’s pretty diverse, I’d like to think. I don’t listen to much of what’s like, super mainstream on the radio, though.” 

“So I’m guessing that you probably wouldn’t be picking up _Backstreet Boys_ , huh?” Luke says bashfully, holding up the cassette in his hand. Michael smiles softly at him. “I’ve heard a little bit of those bands, I think? Whatever’s been on the radio. I’ve always been interested in that kind of stuff but… haven’t had an opportunity to listen.” 

“I could make you a mixtape of some stuff, if you wanted,” Michael offers, blushing slightly. “I mean, you said you’re going to be in town for a few days or whatever, right? I could make you a mixtape and we could like, hang out and listen to it. Or whatever.” He rubs the back of his neck nervously, and Luke just grins back at him. His heart flutters again. Maybe he needs to get that checked out. 

“That sounds like a really good idea, actually,” Luke says with a smile, brushing blond locks out of his eyes. Man, his eyes are pretty. Fuck, he needs to stop staring. “Do you have a piece of paper?” Michael makes an uncertain noise, reaching around in his bag before pulling out a notebook, handing it to Luke with a pen. 

“There you go,” he says, biting his bottom lip. Luke opens to the front, scribbling something into the front of the notebook before handing it back to Michael. He takes it, looking on the inside and seeing a number written neatly in there. He suddenly feels like he needs to pass out from how fast his heart is beating. 

“That’s the number to my hotel room,” he offers. Hotel room, Michael thinks to himself. Fancy. “You can give me a ring tomorrow and either Cal or I will answer it and we can work something out, yeah?” Michael just nods a little bit, and he puts his notebook back into his bag. He has to remind himself how to breathe, fuck. 

“Yeah, that works for me,” he says. “I’m off from the store the next few days, so my schedule is wide open. My only plans were to play video games and sleep. So hanging out sounds like a fantastic idea.” 

“I dunno, those both sound pretty appealing,” Luke teases. Calum comes up behind him and taps him on the shoulder, giving him a knowing look. “Oh, shoot, I gotta go, but I’m looking forward to your call. And your mixtape!” Luke hands the Backstreet Boys cassette off to Calum and shoos him off with his hand. Calum rolls his eyes and heads to pay at the counter. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” He gives Michael a warm smile and touches his shoulder before heading out of the store once Calum is finished paying. 

Michael tries not to collapse into a puddle of feelings onto the floor before heading to the counter to pay and popping his new tape into his Walkman to listen on his way home. Man, is he fucked.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael stays up until 2 in the morning making the mixtape.

He doesn’t mean to stay up so late, but he wants to make sure it’s the perfect mixture of songs for Luke, so of course it’s what he spends his entire night doing, sitting on his bedroom floor eating cold lo mein while carefully curating this tape for Luke. Once he’s satisfied with it, he neatly writes the track listing on the back of the cassette insert before doodling on the front and writing “Mike’s Mixtape for Luke” in sharpie. 

He’s woken up by his large tabby cat crawling over his face and meowing loudly. Michael groans as he gently pushes him off of him, rolling over and seeing what time it was. Only 9am, god damn it. “Leo, why are you waking me up so early on my day off, bud?” he whines. He looks over to his food dish, seeing that it’s empty as the tabby meows at him again. “Okay, okay, I’m getting up!” 

He groans as he rolls over and kicks off his blankets, scratching at his messy blond locks as he makes his way into the kitchen. He pulls the bag of cat food out of the cupboard and fills the cat’s dish for him before pulling himself out some cereal. If the cat was going to wake him up, then apparently it was going to be time to get up for the day. He makes himself a bowl, making his way over to his couch to sit criss cross and put these damn frosted flakes in his body. 

His eyes make their way over to the notebook sitting on top of his work bag, clothes tossed all over his floor. He makes a mental note that he needs to do his laundry and tidy up in case Luke wants to hang out with him. Not that he thinks he’ll actually want to come over and hang out, but just in case. The number he’d left him was nagging in the back of his head, the cassette he’d made him also sitting next to his notebook. He can’t believe he stayed up half the night making a mixtape for a man he’d just met the day prior. He sighs to himself as he shoves another spoonful of flakes into his mouth, Leo coming over and looking expectantly at his bowl. 

“No, you don’t get to have my sugar filled milk,” he says to the cat, to which he meows in response. Sometimes Michael thinks he might understand him. That terrifies him a little bit. Leo paws at his knee a little bit, and Michael sighs as he lifts his arms and the cat settles on his lap happily, purring contentedly as he curls up against Michael. “You’re lucky you’re fucking cute.” He scratches under his chin a little bit before shoving another bite of flakes into his mouth and turning the tv on for _something_ to keep him busy. He can’t possibly call Luke at 9 in the morning on a Sunday. That would be absolutely stupid of him. 

So he doesn’t. He sits on the couch with Leo and watches some terrible infomercials as he pets him and finishes off his cereal. After about an hour, he regrettably moves the cat off of his lap, to which he gets a meow of protest before he curls up in the spot left by Michael’s heat. He smiles to himself, making his way to the sink to rinse out his bowl. He busies himself with idle chores around the apartment, putting his laundry away into his hamper and folding any clean laundry he had left over from last week’s trip to the laundromat. He even made himself vacuum, to which Leo protested by crawling up onto the fridge. Why he was afraid of the vacuum, Michael will never know. 

By the time he finishes, it’s 11, and he figures that’s a good enough time to call Luke and see if he’s around. He makes sure he’s all dressed and stuff first in case he wants to do something. Lunch is what pops into Michael’s head, and that sounds like a good enough idea to him as he picks up the phone. His hands are shaking a little bit, but he takes a breath, psyching himself up for a moment mentally before dialling the number with the extension, curling the cord around his finger aimlessly as he waits impatiently for someone to answer on the other line.

The phone only rings once before he gets a “Hello?” on the other line, Luke’s soft voice like music to his ears and his heart is beating faster in his chest. Okay, Michael, chill out, it’s just a fucking phone call. You don’t need to develop an arrhythmia from a fucking phone call. 

“Hey, Luke?” he says, a little bit hesitant. “It’s Michael. From, uh, you know. The mall yesterday?” Michael is now mentally spiraling and thinking Luke may have already forgotten him even though he knows that he hasn’t even given him enough time to reply. Luke lets out a soft laugh on the other end, and Michael feels woozy. He will not let himself pass out over some silly boy’s laugh over the phone. No he won’t. 

“Hi, Michael,” he says with a laugh. “I was wondering when you would call.” Michael bites his lip and he thanks the stars that Luke can’t see him right now, because he’s certain he looks ridiculous. “How was your night?”

“Good,” he says nervously, laughing a little bit. “I made you that mixtape! If you wanted to meet up and like. Get lunch or something?” He chews on his lip a little bit as he toys with the sleeve of his flannel. “Or something else. Anything’s fine with me.”

“Lunch sounds good to me!” he says with a smile. “Anywhere in particular you recommend?” 

“Honestly? I usually just go to McDonald’s. Especially at this time of day on Sunday -- everyone’s still at church so it’s pretty slow until around 1. Me and my friends would go when we were in high school every week, til they all left for college.” 

“I haven’t had McDonald’s in ages,” Luke says on the other line, and Michael silently congratulates himself. “Yeah, we could do that, for sure. I’ll meet you there in about… fifteen minutes?” 

“Sounds like a good plan! I’ll see you there.” Michael and Luke say their goodbyes, and Michael takes a sigh as he looks over to Leo, who looks to him with one green eye open. “Leo, I’m going to fucking die from talking to this man.” The cat just yawns and tucks his head back under his paw before going back to sleep. God damn it, Michael needs to get his shit the fuck together.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

When Michael sees Luke at the McDonald’s, he has to stop himself from turning around and walking back home. He was sitting outside cross legged, playing his GameBoy as blond curls fell into his eyes, looking cozy in his overalls and crewneck. Michael has to shove the gay panic back into its neat little box, taking a breath as he takes out his earbuds and approaches Luke.

“Hope you weren’t waiting long,” he says, and Luke looks up at him with a grin, pushing his wire frame glasses up his nose. Did he get _cuter_ since yesterday? Michael has to stop himself from quietly catastrophizing as Luke pulls himself up from the sidewalk. 

“No, not long at all,” he says with a smile, and it’s only then that Michael notices Calum nearby. He wonders for a moment if Calum goes everywhere with Luke. “Let’s head in. Do you know what you’re getting?” Luke pushes the door open and Michael trails behind him, eyes immediately moving to Luke’s ass. It looks really fucking good in the overalls. Maybe _he’s_ the one who should be in church right now with the rest of the town. 

“Yeah, I always get the same thing,” he says. “The Quarter Pounder Meal. What about you? You look like… a nuggets kind of guy.” Luke blushes a little bit, pulling the sleeves of his sweatshirt over his hand, and Michael feels his heart twinge. Oh no, not again. Fuck you, heart. Stop acting up. 

“With sweet and sour,” he says bashfully, pushing curls out of his face. “How’d you know?”

“My superpower is guessing what people get at McDonald’s,” Michael says proudly. He makes his way up to the counter and orders them both meals, paying before Luke can protest and grabbing their cups. Luke pouts at him a little as Michael hands him the cups. “You wanna go pick a seat and get our drinks? I get Hi-C Orange mixed with Sprite.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” he says with a roll of his eyes as he turns. “Oh, they’ve got a _Playplace_ here?!” Michael isn’t certain he’s ever heard an adult man sound so excited about an indoor playground inside of a McDonald’s before. He watches as Luke goes to get their drinks, looking longingly at the Playplace as Michael waits for their food. He thanks the workers once their tray has their food on it, making his way over to Luke, who’s talking to Calum and contemplating what drink to get. 

“You wanna go eat at the Playplace?” he asks, and Luke lights up. “I’ll go grab a seat.” He looks over Luke’s shoulder at his still empty cup. “I suggest you get the Hi-C and Sprite. It’s the best mixture.” He heads over into the Playplace, taking a seat at one of the tables with fry mascots as chairs. Luke and Calum follow him in a moment later, Calum watching Luke sit at the table before heading back to get himself something. Michael wonders what his deal is. Maybe he’s his chauffeur or something. He’s pretty sure Luke is rich.

“Thanks for buying me lunch, you didn’t have to,” Luke says softly, trying to get comfortable in the tiny chair that’s more suited for a child. They both look like giants in comparison, honestly. Michael just shrugs as he pops a fry into his mouth and opens up his burger. 

“Hey, it was the least I could do,” he says with a grin. “Oh!” He reaches into his pocket, pulling out the mixtape that he’d doodled over the cover of and slides it over the table. “Your introduction to good music.” Luke smiles at him, chewing on his bottom lip before putting it into his GameBoy fanny pack for safekeeping. Michael bites his own lip to keep himself from smiling too hard at the sight. 

“Thanks,” he says, patting his fanny pack for good measure. “I can’t wait to give it a listen.” He pops a fry into his mouth, smiling at Michael, and he has to look down at his food to hide his blush. This is stupid, he’s better at covering up his feelings than this. He takes a bite of his burger, sighing softly as he distracts himself with the taste. 

“After we eat, you wanna go in the ball pit?” Michael asks with a grin, mouth still half full of food. Luke looks up at him, grinning a little bit as he dunks a nugget into some sweet and sour sauce. “Since there’s no kids here, seems like the perfect time.” 

“You bet your sweet ass I wanna go in the ball pit,” he says with a grin, shoving the nugget into his mouth. “Do I want to go in the ball pit, what kind of a silly question is that?” Michael laughs a little bit, shoving another fry in his mouth. 

“I dunno, not everyone likes the ball pit!” he says with a laugh. “Rather ask you before I drag you in there!” Luke just lets out another laugh, rolling his eyes a little bit as he moves onto his next nugget. 

“Better eat up, Michael, there’s a ball pit waiting for us,” he says with a grin. Michael takes that as his cue to make quicker work of his food. 

They both finish off their food, Calum hovering in the doorway of the play area as Michael takes care of their trash. He pulls off his Doc Martens, and Luke toes off his Nikes before they look to make sure no one other than Calum is watching before making a run for the ball pit. 

Both being large human beings, they both barely fit in the pit, the balls barely covering their bodies as they make a dive for it. They both burst out laughing, Luke pushing curls out of his face and fixing his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as he tosses a ball at Michael. Michael feigns offence, giving him a pretend startled look as he tosses a ball back at him.

“Why are we throwing balls in my face!” he asks, scoffing a little bit. “I didn’t sign up for this!” Luke just giggles, throwing another one at him, hitting him smack in the mouth. “Oh, god, no, now I’m going to die from balls to the face!” He pretends to faint, flopping into the shallow pit and Luke laughs at him, the melodic sound filling the space between them. 

“No, not balls to the face! I hear that’s the worst way to go!” he says between bouts of laughter, sinking into the plastic balls a little bit. Michael takes a ball and tosses it at Luke, hitting him in the face as well. “Oh no! I’ve been struck down! Send my love to my parents!” He flops to the bottom of the pit, the both of them bursting at the seams with laughter. 

Their hands brush against each other in the madness of the dramatics, and Michael’s breath hitches in his throat, laughter dying in his throat as he swallows hard at the warm feeling of Luke’s fingers against his own. Luke’s laughter dies out too, the air heavy between the two of them as they look at each other through the mess of plastic balls around them. Michael’s bottom lip catches between his teeth, and he can feel himself flushing as he looks at Luke, curls splayed over his face as he looks back at Michael, the same longing hesitation in his eyes. 

There’s another pause between them, the silent question between them answered as Luke grabs for his hand, lacing their fingers under the small pile of plastic balls and Michael accepts it easily, squeezing his hand once. Thank fucking god his gay panic can be let out of it’s box because it’s running rampant now, Luke’s soft fingers curling against his own. Michael reaches over with his free hand, brushing a stray golden curl out of Luke’s eyes, and they move a little closer, almost letting the moment overtake them. 

“Are you teenagers in the ball pit again!” he hears one of the employees say, and they break apart in a panic, laughing a little bit again as the frenzied employee makes their way towards the ball pit. It’s stupid fucking Roy from high school. Michael hates that guy. “I swear to god, if you don’t get out of there _right now_ …!” Michael thinks quickly, gesturing for Luke to follow him as he squeezes up into the tunnels leading up to the slides, laughing, Luke following suit. 

“Come on, we can get out down the slide!” he says with a laugh, climbing over the cloth netted area as best he can as he reaches the platform for the slide. Luke’s not far behind him, and Michael offers him a hand as he pulls him to the platform with him, squished together in the space made for children. They laugh as they look down, Roy looking frustrated and Calum standing by the door looking a little disappointed, but also looking like he’s trying not to laugh. “You wanna go first or me?” 

“You go first, troublemaker,” Luke says with a laugh, pushing his glasses back up his nose. His curls are wild around his face and his cheeks are pink with laughter, and Michael wants nothing more than to lean in and kiss his mouth red. He hesitates though, taking the lead and sliding down the slide with a little effort, trying to fit himself down the plastic tube and laughing when he gets to the bottom, giving Roy a bashful grin. 

“Come on, Luke, your turn!” he says with a laugh, sitting on the floor in front of the slide. He can hear the sound of Luke’s overall clasps as he moves down the slide, but the sound stops after a moment, and Michael just blinks a couple of times. “Luke? You coming?” There’s a pause. 

“I think I’m stuck.” Michael bites his lip a little bit.

“What do you mean you’re stuck?” There’s the rustling sound of the metal bits on Luke’s overalls hitting against the plastic of the slide. 

“I mean I’m _stuck_ , Michael.” Michael just looks up the slide, the sight of Luke’s sock-covered feet just out of his reach, and he just bursts out into laughter, falling backwards onto the carpeted floor. Calum comes over, looking down at Michael. 

“What did he say?” he asks Michael, and Michael looks up at Luke’s friend, biting his lip again.

“He said he’s _stuck_ ,” he says, bursting into another fit of giggles as he lays back on the floor. Calum looks over to the employee with an apologetic gaze, trying not to fall victim to Michael’s infectious laughter. “Fuck, I can’t believe you got stuck!” There are tears in Michael’s eyes from laughing, and he’s pretty sure that he hasn’t laughed this hard in a really fucking long time. 

“I’ll have to take the stupid slide apart,” Roy complains, glaring at Michael, and Michael just laughs harder with glee. “You’re not coming back here ever again, Clifford. Neither is your friend.” Michael just nods between the tears, and Luke starts laughing too from inside of the slide, and Calum tries his hardest not to join them as stupid fucking Roy goes to get the things to take the slide apart.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Once they get Luke free from the slide and pull their shoes on, they exit the McDonald’s, all of them still laughing a little as the manager of the McDonald’s tells them they’re most certainly _not_ welcome back there on the way out the door. Michael tries not to think too hard about how nice it felt to hold Luke’s hand in the ball pit, wiping sweaty palms on his jeans as he chews on his bottom lip.

“I can’t believe you got me kicked out of a McDonald’s,” Luke says with a shake of his head, brushing golden curls out of his eyes. Michael stifles another giggle, and Luke smiles softly at him. “Well, since we obviously can’t hang out in a McDonald’s anymore, do you have any ideas what we can do?” Michael pulls a face as he tries to think.

“Well, there’s not a whole lot of options of things to do unless you like to spend a whole lot of time in the great outdoors,” he laughs, running a hand through his messy blond locks. “I mean, we could go to the orchard. I know the owners, they usually let me pick apples at a discounted rate and they’ve got like, hay rides and shit. If you’re into that kind of stuff.” 

“I don’t think I’ve ever been on a hay ride before,” Luke muses. “I’m from the city, so we don’t have those kinds of things.” Michael looks at him with disbelief for a moment, and Luke just shrugs his shoulders a little bit. “What? We don’t.”

“Well then, we’re absolutely going to the orchard then,” he insists. “How did you get here? I usually just take the bus out to the orchard since I don’t drive but. I’m not going to make you take the bus or whatever if you don’t want to.” 

“No, no, Calum drove me in our rental car,” he says. “We can take that, right, Cal?” He looks to Calum with a grin and Calum just sighs with a shake of his head.

“Haven’t you two gotten into enough trouble today?” he asks with a shake of his head. Michael feels a little bit like a child with the way that Calum addresses him, even though he’s obviously their age. “Fine, I’ll take you. No more getting stuck in slides, however.” He gives Luke a pointed look, which Luke replies to with a bashful grin. 

“Don’t worry, there’s no slides to get stuck in at the orchard,” Michael says with a little bit of a grin. “Plenty of trees, though.” Luke giggles a little bit at the pained look that Calum gives them both. “I’ll make sure Luke here doesn’t get stuck in any trees, don’t worry.” 

“Just get in the car, you two, please,” he sighs a little bit. Michael thinks to himself that Calum should probably loosen up a little bit. He bets that he and Ashton would get along swimmingly as he follows Luke to their rental car, a little surprised at the dark Mercedes Benz sitting in the parking spot. 

“This is a nice fucking car,” Michael laughs a little bit. Luke shrugs a little bit, brushing a curl behind his ear as he climbs into the back seat, all limbs. Michael tries not to watch too hard, but with Luke’s ass in his face like this, it’s very difficult not to. He slides in next to him as Calum shuts the door for them, making sure he’s buckled as he looks over at Luke. He’s buckling himself and fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose before he looks over to Michael and catches his gaze. Michael blushes and looks down at his hands. 

“So, about the ball pit,” Luke says softly, biting his lip. Oh god, this was it. He was going to tell him it was an accident and he didn’t mean to hold his hand. And call him names or something. He can feel the panic rising in his throat as he looks over to Luke, trying to keep a straight face.

“The ball pit,” Michael repeats, and fuck, he thinks the panic is evident in his voice. He swallows, looking back down to his hands resting neatly in his lap. God, he needs to get out of this car before he makes himself look like a complete fucking imbecile. “What, uh, what about the ball pit?” He tries to cover it up, but Luke just gives him a look as his gaze wanders back to him. The midday sun is streaming in through the window and he looks positively angelic. Fuck. 

“I just… want to make sure we’re on the same page here,” he says softly, his own hands fidgeting in his lap. “I thought we were having a... moment, but if we weren’t… This is stupid, I’m sorry, I’ll just shut up now.” Michael looks over to Luke, who looks to be panicking inward just as much as he is. He bites his lip a little bit as he reaches over and takes Luke’s hand into his own gingerly. Luke looks over at him, cheeks pink at the contact, and Michael just offers him a soft smile. 

“It’s not easy being… you know,” he says, not able to bring himself to say it. “Especially in a place like this. So I get it. And I know you’re leaving in a couple days, and that’s fine too. But… I really enjoyed our moment in the ball pit.” He scratches the back of his neck anxiously, and Luke just smiles back at him, letting their hands settle between them in the empty middle seat. 

“I did too,” he returns, and they both just smile at each other for a moment. There’s a beat, and they lean in a little towards each other, interrupted by the sound of Calum getting into the driver’s seat. Luke looks up, and Calum’s giving him a knowing look in the rear view mirror, so he pulls back a little. Their hands, however, stay nestled between them, like a quiet promise of more to come. 

“So where’s this orchard you’re so keen on going to,” Calum asks from the driver’s seat, turning the car on and turning down the radio. Michael clears his throat a little bit, squeezing Luke’s hand gently as he looks to the front of the car. 

“It’s about three miles from here, off the main road on Park,” he says. “There’s signs everywhere, you can’t miss it. It’s called the Apple of my Pie Orchard.” Luke giggles a little at the name, and Calum just lets out a long winded sigh as he pulls the car out of the parking lot and makes his way to the orchard.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael’s a little impressed at how amused Luke looks when they get to the orchard. You’d think the poor man had never seen an apple tree in his life, the way he admires them as they make their way onto the property. Calum had left them to their own devices, giving Luke a look and telling him not to cause anymore trouble before he went off, leaving them alone for the first time.

“Do you wanna hitch a hay ride first, or do you want to pick some apples first?” Luke purses his lips, squinting a little in the sunlight as he looks around at the grove. It’s quiet, because it’s a Sunday, and most everyone stays home on Sundays here. There’s a small handful of families, but other than that, it’s peaceful. Perfect for a nice little afternoon after the chaos of the McDonald’s. 

“Apples first, I think,” he decides. “Then if the hay ride is terrible, I can throw the apples at you as payment for two failed attempts at hanging out today.” Michael laughs a little bit, shoving him playfully as he heads up to the stand to get them a bag for their apples. He looks over his shoulder at Luke, who looks almost nervous standing alone, adjusting his fanny pack slung over his shoulder anxiously. Michael returns, handing him the bag with a little bit of a grin.

“Hey, come on, let’s go get some apples,” he says with a grin. “Oh! I’ve got my earbuds and my Walkman, do you want to listen to the mixtape I made you?” He gestures to the beat up cassette player hooked onto his belt, grinning a little bit, and Luke just smiles back at him, hand ruffling his curls. 

“Why don’t we listen on the hayride?” he suggests, and Michael nods a little bit. What a good idea, he thinks to himself. Why didn’t he think of it? Fucking dumbass. “Gives me something to look forward to other than the mystery of whatever it is a hay ride entails.” Michael rolls his eyes a little bit, gesturing towards the grove of trees with his head.

“Come on, I know where the best apples are,” he offers. Luke hesitates for a moment before reaching his hand out, and Michael thinks for a moment that it’s bold of him to think they could openly hold hands out here. He chews on his lip a little bit, giving Luke a look, and his face falls a little bit. Michael hates the gnawing feeling it leaves at the pit of his stomach, and he sighs as he makes his way towards the trees (but not before outstretching his hand and hooking their pinkies together, the subtlest of gestures).

Michael leads him into the back part of the orchard, where the trees are still pretty full of apples, most of the families not making it this far due to their kids complaining about their feet hurting or something like that. It’s why the front trees are almost always picked clean. He swings their hands between them lightly before sliding their hands together, feeling more comfortable now that there are less people around. He pulls an apple off of a tree, inspecting it with a hum before taking a bite. 

“You can’t just eat the apples off the trees,” Luke says with an offended look on his face. Michael laughs a little bit, shaking his head. 

“Of course you can, don’t be silly,” he says, offering the apple to Luke. He gives Michael a skeptical look before taking the apple from him, a large bite taken from him missing from the shiny red fruit. He takes a small bite from the other side before pulling a couple off of the trees, looking them over meticulously before tossing them into their bag. 

“How many did you want to get?” he asks, pulling a big one off of a tall tree, leaning up on his tiptoes. He blinks a couple of times when he doesn’t get an answer, and looks over to where Michael was standing, to see the spot empty. “Michael?”

“I’m up here, dude,” he hears from above him, and he looks up to see Michael perched halfway up the tree. Luke blinks at him surprisedly a few times, and Michael just grins as he picks a couple of fat, juicy apples off of a high up branch. “Don’t give me that look, all the best apples are up here. No one can get to them unless they have a little adventure in their bones.” He gently tosses one to Luke, who catches it gingerly in his hands. 

“I’ve never climbed a tree before,” he admits, gently catching the apples and bagging them as Michael hands them down to him. Michael laughs a little bit, and Luke feels the tips of his ears flush red at the sound. “I grew up in the city! There were no trees to climb!” Luke bites his bottom lip, looking like he’s going to add something, but he doesn’t, just stands there with their half filled paper bag of apples looking a little embarrassed. 

“Well, no time like the present, right?” Michael offers, scooting down the tree easily. “This one was my favorite as a kid because it was the easiest to climb. Good for beginners.” Luke looks at him for a moment, hesitant. Michael reaches over and takes Luke’s hand into his, squeezing it gently. “You can do it, come on. You got the right attire and everything.” Luke sighs a little bit, cheeks pink as he sets the bag of apples down.

“Fine, but only because you’re so very convincing,” he says softly. They’re closer than they’ve been before, and Michael can see the way that Luke’s eyelashes brush over his cheekbones, and his bottom lip catches between his teeth. “Alright, wish me luck. If I fall and hurt myself, I’m suing you for all you’ve got.” 

“All I’ve got is a shoebox apartment and Leonardo DiCatrio, I don’t think you’ll be much better off doing that to me,” he says with a laugh as he shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Luke hesitates with one hand on a branch to pull himself up, turning to look at Michael with a furrowed brow.

“I’m sorry, did you say _Leonardo Di **Cat** rio_?” he asks, trying not to laugh. Michael blushes a little bit.

“Stop judging me over my cat’s name and climb the fucking tree,” he huffs, kicking at a fallen apple on the ground. Luke just giggles, pulling himself up into the branches. Michael watches as he makes his way up, eyes firmly on his ass without hesitation this time. There wasn’t anyone around to see him ogling Luke’s ass, so he was going to take the opportunity to do so as he climbs. 

Luke makes it about three feet off of the ground and turns himself around to sit on a branch as he looks down at Michael, feeling proud of himself. “Look, I did it, see,” he says with a breath, pushing his glasses up. Michael nods as he leans against the trunk of the tree, poking at Luke’s knee with a little bit of a smile. 

“Proud of you, city boy,” he hums, looking up at him. “Who knew you were such a quick learner?” Luke sticks his tongue out at Michael, and he blushes a little at the gesture, shaking his head. “Alright, you gonna hang out in the tree for a while, or you wanna come get more apples with me?” Luke smiles down at him, swinging his feet a little bit. 

“I’m coming down, don’t worry,” he says with a shake of his head. He looks down at the ground for a moment and freezes, hands gripping the branch a little bit tighter as he swallows harder. Michael blinks at him a couple times, raising an eyebrow at him.  
“What’s wrong?” he asks gently, the familiar sight of a panic attack etched onto his features. 

“Just remembered I am afraid of heights,” Luke laughs breathlessly, squeezing his eyes shut as he takes a breath. Michael looks up at him, only three feet off of the ground, and he tries not to laugh a little bit, because it is kind of funny that he’s scared when he could still easily get down. He reaches up with his hands, arms out.

“Come on, I’ll catch you,” he says, making grabby hands somewhat at him. Luke just stares down at him, confusion etched onto his face. Michael gestures towards him again. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’ll catch you. Come on.” He gestures towards himself another time, and Luke chews on his bottom lip.

“Okay,” he says softly, and he squeezes his eyes as he lets go of the branch and pushes himself off the tree. Michael grabs him easily, the man more than light enough for him to lift without too much work, laughing a little bit as he awkwardly sets him back down onto his feet. Luke keeps his hands on Michael for a moment, opening his eyes to their faces close together, and they both blush wildly. There’s a beat between them, and they both blink at one another knowingly, mouths mere inches apart from one another. Michael’s eyes dart down to Luke’s pink mouth before traveling back up to meet his sparkling blues. His tongue peeks out to wet his lips, and Luke’s moving in closer, eyes fluttering shut. 

“Come on, I think there’s more apples this way!” he hears a voice say from just beyond their spot in the grove, and Michael pulls back, panic in his eyes as they distance themselves from one another. He picks up their bag of apples as the group of teenagers makes their way to the back of the grove, a couple of them hesitating as they see Michael and Luke. Luke looks panicked as well, but for entirely different reasons, much to Michael’s ignorance. 

“Come on, let’s head back,” Michael offers, motioning with his head towards the front of the grove of trees. Luke just nods, following closely behind him. Michael pretends not to hear the group of kids who were just a couple years younger than him mutter slurs at him, fully well knowing they mean it as he makes his way back to the front of the orchard. Luke follows closely, hearing the comments too but keeping his thoughts to himself, seeing the way that Michael quietly shrinks at it, words like daggers tossed at him. Once they’re out of their sight, Michael links their pinkies again, giving Luke a soft but sad smile. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Luke asks quietly. Michael kicks a half eaten apple out of his path, shriveling under the warm October sun. He thinks on it for a moment, thoughts rattling around his head like the spin cycle, before shaking his head. 

“Not here,” he says softly. “Not now.” Luke just nods, seemingly understanding as he tugs lightly at Michael’s pinky with his own, pushing his glasses up his nose for the umpteenth time that afternoon. 

“You wanna take that hayride now?” Luke suggests, and Michael smiles a little at him, wishing that he could just hold his hand and squeeze. He didn’t have that luxury, unfortunately. 

“Hayride sounds absolutely amazing,” he replies, and they grin slightly at one another as Michael tugs him along towards the hayride station near the entrance.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Turns out that Luke is allergic to hay.

Michael thinks it’s a good thing that he didn’t grow up in a small town like this, because he certainly would have been one of the sneeziest kids in the neighborhood, he thinks to himself as he watches Luke have a sneezing fit as soon as they slid off of the back of the cart. He wishes he had something to help with his sneezing, but all he’s got on him is his walkman and his wallet, and he doesn’t think either of those are going to be detrimental to Luke’s allergies.

“You sure you’re going to be okay?” Michael asks for probably the tenth time, worry etched onto his face as Luke wrinkles his red nose. He just nods, however, sighing a little bit at the inconvenience. 

“Guess I’ll never truly know the wonders of the almighty hayride,” Luke sighs before sneezing again. Michael chuckles a little bit, shaking his head. 

“It’s okay. We got apples, you got stuck in a tree, the rest of the afternoon was nice enough,” he says with a grin. He kicks at some grass, holding their bag to his chest. “When’s Calum supposed to be back to get you?” Luke looks at his watch, squinting in the mid-afternoon sun. 

“In about an hour,” he says with a shrug. “How will we ever pass the time?” Michael shrugs.

“We can head over to the sunflower patch and lay in the grass and listen to my mixtape?” he offers. “Unless you’re allergic to those, too.” Luke lets out a little giggle, scrunching up his reddened nose, and fucking damn it is he cute. 

“Last time I checked, no, I’m not allergic to any kinds of flowers,” he says with a little bit of a smile. “That sounds like a good idea.” Michael grins at him, tugging on the sleeve of his sweatshirt as he starts towards the field of flowers.

It’s a short walk, the late afternoon sun warm on Michael’s face as he leads Luke to the sunflower patch. It’s quiet out here, everyone better occupied at the apple orchard or on hay rides. Michael finds a good spot and plops down on the grass, patting the spot next to him. Luke drops down as well, sitting cross-legged as he smiles softly at Michael before fishing the tape out of his little fanny pack. He looks it over for a moment, smiling to himself at the doodles adorning the paper insert. Michael’s cheeks feel warm, but he’s not sure if it’s because of Luke looking so fondly at his handiwork, or because of the warm sun beating down on his face. Either way, he smiles as Luke pulls the tape free and hands it to him. Michael pops open his Walkman, pulling out his _Pinkerton_ tape he’d gotten yesterday and popping in the mix. He pulls his earbuds out of his pocket, plugging them into the player and offering one to Luke before pressing play. 

He settles back against the grass as the first song starts up, _Creep_ by Radiohead, humming quietly to himself. Luke settles onto his back as well, hands next to one another but not quite touching. Michael turns to admire Luke, his curls splayed out over the browning grass, one hand settled on his chest and tapping out the beat of the song as he slides his eyes closed, fully listening to the music. Michael’s pretty sure there isn’t anything more intimate than this moment here -- sharing your music with someone you like and watching them lose themselves in it fully. 

They lay there quietly, taking in the contents of the mixtape that Michael had spent so long carefully curating for him, still against the grass save for when Michael has to flip the tape over to get to the other side. It’s a nice moment, the most peaceful one Michael thinks he’s had in a long time, looking over to admire Luke every new song to see how he reacts. He reaches over at one point and brushes some golden curls out of his face, to which Luke just gives him a dazed and content smile, skin warm from the sun. The countryside definitely looked good on him, Michael thought to himself. 

He watches as the clouds move across the sky as they listen, quietly humming along with most of the songs as he admires the nature around him. Michael’s never been much of an outdoorsy person other than wreaking havoc with his friends in high school, but he thinks that if it leads to laying in sunflower fields with men who look like Luke does, maybe he should go outside more often. He lets his fingers brush idly over Luke’s, and Luke just hums quietly in response to the touch, looking over to Michael and smiling softly. 

They could have seized this moment here, finally alone, no one even close to them, but the serenity of it was too pure to ruin with anything more than barely there touches and gentle smiles. Michael sighs softly to himself as the tape hits the last song, _Heart-Shaped Box_ by Nirvana, and he sits up a little once it ends, pressing stop on the cassette. Luke looks up at him, cheeks pink from the afternoon sun, and smiles again, drunk with sunshine. Michael wishes he could bottle up this tender moment forever and keep it for a rainy day. 

“Why is your music so depressing and angry?” Luke prods gently, pearly whites flashing as he laughs. Michael blushes slightly, skin already warm and pink from laying in the autumn sun. He’ll probably have a slight sunburn tomorrow, but that’s okay. A small price to pay to spend the afternoon with Luke. 

“Dunno,” he shrugs. “Maybe it’s because I’m depressed and angry.” He says it with a light tone, but he knows he isn’t joking. He picks up a rock and tosses it into the flowers, watching as a small flock of birds flies off in response to it. “Not everything is happy all the time, you know? Like pop music leads you to believe. I just like to listen to stuff that actually, like… expresses that, I guess.” Luke looks over at him with a soft but sad smile, taking his hand and squeezing it once as he sits up himself. 

“I get that,” he says softly, looking down at their hands laced together in the grass. “But maybe people like to listen to pop music because they like to pretend everything’s okay… even when it’s not.” 

“Fair argument,” he says with a little bit of a shrug. He lets go of Luke’s hand, Luke’s face falling at the loss as Michael stands up and dusts loose blades of grass off of his pants. He pulls the mixtape out of his Walkman and replaces it with the Weezer tape as 

Luke pulls himself back up off the ground. Michael hands Luke the tape back, and he takes it gingerly, putting it back into its plastic case safely before tucking it away. “Come on, it’s been about an hour, Calum should be back.” Luke nods a little bit, brushing his overalls off before starting back down the path.

Calum was waiting for them in the parking lot of the orchard, looking a little annoyed as they came down over the hill, covered in grass and cheeks pink with laughter and too much sunshine. “Do you want a ride home?” Luke asks, biting his bottom lip into his mouth as they approach the car. 

“Sure beats walking the mile back to my apartment building, so sure,” he says with a soft laugh. Luke looks to Calum expectantly, and Calum just sighs.

“Just get in the car.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“Thanks for putting up with me today,” Luke says as they pull up in front of Michael’s building. “Do you have anything planned for tomorrow?”

“My only plan was to play video games and spend quality time with my cat,” he says with a soft laugh. “Why, did you want to, uh, hang out again?” 

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Luke says softly, playing with the zipper of his fanny pack. “We could go to the movies?” There’s a certain look in Luke’s eyes when he suggests it. Ah, yes, the movies. The dark movies where no one can see you. Makes sense to him.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he says. “I’ll take a look at what’s playing in the paper and we can pick something? Or you can pick. Doesn’t matter to me. I’m just along for the ride.” Michael grins at him a little bit, and Luke returns the look, mischief in his eyes. Calum is glaring at them both in the rearview mirror. 

“I can take a look and pick something,” he says. “Just call me tomorrow, we can pick a time after I pick a movie.” Michael smiles at him. 

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” he says. “Thanks for… everything today.” He reaches over for the handle, and Luke places his hand on top of his. Michael turns to look at him, brow raised before Luke leans in and kisses his cheek softly. 

“Thank _you_ for everything today,” he says softly, biting his bottom lip as he pulls back. Michael’s pretty sure he’s transformed into a tomato. That’s fine. He’s happy with being a tomato if it means he can be a tomato because of Luke. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Mike.” 

“Yeah,” he stammers. “Tomorrow.” He bites his bottom lip before letting himself out of the car, shutting the door behind him. He takes a shaky breath as he touches the spot Luke kissed on his cheek as he makes his way up to his apartment, letting himself in. 

He collapses onto his bed, hot and tired and warm from the afternoon sun and Luke and everything in between. Leo jumps up onto the bed, meowing at him as he climbs onto Michael’s chest. He slides a hand over his orange fur, letting out a soft sigh as he looks up at the ceiling, cat purring underneath his touch.

“Leo, we are so fucked.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael is woken up by his phone ringing at 8:30am.

He groans as it rings, pulling himself out of bed with maximum effort, making his way over to it and answering it tiredly, rubbing his eyes. 

“Hello?” he mumbles. He doesn’t know who’s calling him at 8:30 in the morning on a Monday, but here he is. 

“Mike? It’s Ash,” he hears Ashton’s voice on the other line, which can only mean one thing. He inwardly groans. “Look, Ashley called out today, her kid’s home sick from school or something. Would you be able to go in and open the store for me? I’ll let you leave early on Saturday. Or even have the day off.” Michael weighs the sound of that, humming softly to himself. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll come in,” he says, and Ashton lets out a relieved sigh on the other line. “Let me get showered and stuff, I’ll be there by 9.” He’s going to have to take the bus to get there fast enough, but that’s okay. It’s extra work. Maybe he’ll still work Saturday too, that’ll help him out a little more financially, he thinks. Leo comes over and rubs up against his legs, purring against him. 

“Thank you so much, Mike, this means so much to me, you don’t even know,” he offers. “I’ll be in at noon, so I’ll see you then, okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah, see you then,” he says, hanging up the phone with a sigh. He picks it back up and dials the number to Luke’s hotel room, knowing he probably isn’t awake this early in the morning, but he’ll take his chances. 

It rings four times, and Michael is about to give up, try him when he gets home later in the afternoon, but a sleepy voice answers the other line. 

“Hello?” Luke says on the other line, sounding incredibly tired. Fuck, Michael shouldn’t have called. He should have just waited and called from the store phone when he got there, or on his lunch break. He feels a pit of guilt developing in his stomach, but he snaps out of it. 

“Hey, Luke, it’s Michael,” he says, and Luke just hums contentedly on the other line. “Sorry if I woke you up, or whatever, just -- my boss called me into work and I wanted to let you know. I probably won’t be out till later in the afternoon if you still wanted to, uh, go to the movies today.” 

“Yeah, of course I do,” he says, voice still husky with sleep. God, he sounds absolutely incredibly sexy right now. Michael wishes he could reach in through the phone and kiss the sleepiness out of his voice. He knows that’s probably not a normal thought to have about someone you’ve just met, but he can’t help it. He’s a simple man with a one track mind. “There’s a theater at the mall, right? I can just meet you there, if you want to call me on your lunch or when you’re done.”

“Yeah, that’ll be good,” he says. “I get a discount on concessions too since I work in the mall.” He scuffs his foot at the carpeted floor a little bit. “So, uh, yeah. Did you pick one yet to see?” Michael will probably be late if he keeps on the phone much longer, but he really doesn’t care all that much. He cares significantly more about the man on the other line. He’s doing Ashton a favor anyways, he’s lucky he’s even coming in at all. 

“No, not yet,” Luke chuckles softly into the receiver. “I’ll surprise you with what we’re seeing when we get there.” Michael smiles into the phone, and he wishes Luke could see how absolutely fucking weak he makes him. Part of him hates it, but most of him fucking thrives off of this feeling of butterflies and sunshine in his veins. 

“Okay, it’s a date,” Michael proclaims, and immediately backpedals. “I mean, um… uh…” Luke just giggles a little bit on the other line. 

“It’s a date,” he parrots on the other line. “Go to work, working boy. I’ll see you later.” Michael smiles, his cheeks overtaken with a blush at the way that Luke repeats the words back to him. He’s so fucking gone, he can’t even believe it. 

“Okay, yeah, see you later, Luke,” he says with a soft smile, before hanging up the phone. He looks at his clock, which is flashing 8:40 at him, which means he has approximately 20 minutes to shower, get dressed, get on the bus, and get to work. And maybe eat something. Fuck. At least he had the thought of Luke’s tired voice on the other side of the line playing in his head, fueling him through a speedy morning routine, managing to grab a Pop-Tart from the cupboard before making his way out the door in time to catch the bus.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Mondays are one of Michael’s favorite days to work, if he’s being perfectly honest.

All the kids are at school, and all the parents are at work, so the mall usually only has teens skipping school and parents who stay at home with their little ones in. Of all of the days of the week, Mondays are the slowest by far, which means he’s been passing his morning after getting the store all opened up by restocking any empty spots on the shelves and making sure the store looks clean. (Maybe he was just trying to be an overachiever for once. Maybe he was just hoping Ashton would take pity on him so he could change out of this god forsaken uniform before he went to the movies with Luke. Either way.) He gets maybe four customers before Ashton comes in at 12 with coffee for both of them. 

“Thanks again for coming in for me, Mike, I really do appreciate it,” he says as he hands him the coffee. Michael is more than grateful for it after being so rudely woken up by his phone that morning, taking a sip of it. He sighs contentedly as he waves his hand a little bit dismissively.

“Don’t mention it, least I can do for Ashley,” he says with a sigh. “Monday’s are my favorites anyways. Hardly any customers.” Ashton lets out a chuckle as he takes a sip of his own coffee. 

“Let me go put my stuff away and I’ll let you take lunch,” he says. “You got here at nine, right?” Michael nods a little bit, sipping at his coffee and letting the flavor linger on his tongue. God, he fucking loves coffee. “Cool, can you stay till 5? I have a call with corporate at 4. I can reschedule it if you can’t, but…”

“No, 5 is fine, I can stay till 5,” he says, a little discouraged that he probably won’t have time to go home and change out of his uniform, but he’ll take what he can get. 

“God, Michael, keep it up and I’ll have to promote you,” Ashton jokes, and Michael laughs a little bit in reply. The last thing Michael wants to be is in charge of people. He is good and fine doing just barely more than the minimum. He watches as Ashton makes his way into the back room, sighing as he leans against the counter a little bit. His stomach growls at him, a side effect of only having a Pop-Tart for breakfast. 

“Alrighty, I’m all good, you go ahead,” Ashton says, coming back a few moments later, sipping at his coffee. One of his favorite things about working with Ashton is that he lets him have his coffee at the counter. Maybe he isn’t all that terrible. “Also, did you… clean and stock the store?”

“Yeah,” Michael shrugs as he makes his way around from behind the counter. “I was bored.”

“Maybe I _will_ have to promote you,” Ashton adds with another chuckle, and Michael just offers him an unamused smile, hoping that the rest of his day goes by quickly as he makes his way to the food court.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

The rest of Michael’s shift flies by despite how slow it is, much to his pleasure. He calls Luke on his lunch break from the work phone and lets him know what time he’s going to be finished so he can meet him here for a movie. The second the clock hits 5pm, Ashton meanders out of the office to relieve him from his position behind the counter, and he nearly runs out the door.

“Why are you in such a rush?” Ashton asks with a laugh, raising an eyebrow. “What, got a hot date or something?” Michael blushes a little bit as he takes off his nametag and shoves it into his bag, ruffling his hair a little bit. He hopes he doesn’t look too terrible after working all day. Or smell too much like lemon pledge. God, he’d fucking hate that. He’d rather smell like anything else.

“Uh, something like that,” he mutters, and Ashton gives him a knowing look. Everyone in town knows about him, so it would be a miracle if he’d be able to even find someone within 100 miles who was the same as him and would have the guts to admit it. “Just meeting a friend at the movies. God, who are you, my dad?”

“Well, someone has to look out for you,” Ashton says, his voice gentle. “Have fun, yeah? Be careful.” Michael gives Ashton a sad smile before nodding, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. 

“I will be, don’t worry about me, Ash,” he chuckles. “I’m an adult, I can handle myself. I’m not a kid anymore.” Ashton returns his sad smile, and Michael ducks his head down as he makes his way out of the store, sighing at the heavy feeling in his chest as he makes his way across the mall to the movie theater. 

Luke is easy to pick out, blond curls resting gently on his head as he talks animatedly to Calum. He’s wearing a slightly overlarge patterned sweater and faded jeans that make his ass look oh so very nice. He realises maybe he’s staring and also that he probably looks like a disaster next to this angel of a being. Luke turns and sees him, waving excitedly, and Michael feels his whole body blush.

“All done at work?” Luke asks with a grin. Michael nods a little bit, untucking his polo from his khakis. “You look very cute in your uniform, by the way.” He tugs at the collar of Michael’s polo, and he’s certain his skin is turning the same red color as the fabric. “Anyways, I got the tickets! Three for _Independence Day_.” Michael raises an eyebrow at him.

“Really?” he asks. “I don’t think I really pegged you for a, uh, action movie kind of guy.” Luke’s pink lips turn up into a mischievous grin, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he shrugs his shoulders. 

“I’m not,” he says. “But the movie’s loud, and it’s been out for a while, so the theater should be mostly empty, if not entirely.” Michael can hear the sigh coming from Calum’s lips, and he just bites his own, rubbing his arm almost anxiously as he smiles at Luke. “Besides, I like Will Smith.”

“Who doesn’t?” Michael offers with a laugh. “What time’s the movie at? 5:20, right?” The movie’s been playing long enough with the same times that he manages to remember them, somehow. Luke just nods in agreement. “Cool. Let’s go get some concessions then, yeah?” 

Michael and Luke go up to the concessions stand and get food (nachos for Michael, because he hasn’t eaten since noon, and he’s fucking hungry, and then Luke gets a small thing of popcorn and a box of m&ms. He proceeds to then mix them together, and Michael’s a little intrigued by the duo. He thinks maybe they’ll have to share. He also gets them a large Pepsi to share, because they’re menaces and don’t have Coke products. 

They make their way into the theater, empty save for them since the movie’s been out for three months. Calum takes a seat in the row in front of them, and Luke and Michael settle into the back row of the theater. Michael hums with glee as he pops a nacho into his mouth, humming with content. 

“Nachos good?” Luke asks with a soft smile, popping a piece of popcorn into his mouth. Michael just nods a little bit, leaning over to take a sip of their soda. 

“They’re always good here,” he says. “Do you want to try one?” He holds one out to him with a soft smile, and Luke quietly inspects it, humming softly to himself as he bites his lip. 

“Sure,” he says, taking the cheesy chip from Michael gingerly. He pops it easily into his large mouth, and Michael tries not to stare for too long, biting his bottom lip as he looks back down to his container of nachos, popping another one into his own mouth. “These _are_ pretty good.”

“Right?” Michael laughs a little bit. “I always get the nachos if I’m hungry enough. If I’m not, I just get popcorn. But I _work_ here, so I get nachos more often than I probably should.” Luke shakes his head, reaching over and sneakily taking another one of Michael’s nachos. “Hey! Get your own!” Luke just laughs as he pops it into his mouth.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” he says with a grin before busying himself with his popcorn. Michael wonders briefly why Calum came with them into the movies -- he’d left them by themselves at the orchard yesterday, so he obviously didn’t _have_ to be with Luke all the time, whatever it was he did for him. He tucks the thought away in the back of his mind for later, however, as the lights dim and the previews start. 

Michael finishes his nachos pretty quickly, Luke stealing away a few more, but he doesn’t complain. A few nachos were worth an afternoon with him. He smiles to himself as he tucks the empty container underneath his seat, sitting back a little, his hand resting on the arm rest between them. He looks over to Luke, who gives him a shy smile, his hand sliding over Michael’s and fingers intertwining with his own. 

Michael’s heart is beating fast in his chest as their hands collide, and it’s been a while since he’s felt anything like this before. He remembers the last time he held hands with someone in this movie theater, but he shoves the intrusive thought aside, not wanting to think about that right now. Instead, he leans a little closer into Luke, swallowing as he pulls their hands apart and slides his arm over the back of his broad shoulders. His fingers brush against the baby curls at the nape of his neck, and Luke hums softly and contentedly. Michael runs his fingers over the nape of his neck slowly, earning himself a soft smile, barely made out in the dark as Luke leans into every inch of his touch. 

Michael bites his lip, fingers idling in Luke’s curls as he looks over to him. The light from the movie screen illuminates Luke’s features, his soft pink mouth slightly parted from the feeling of Michael’s fingers in his curls, his blue eyes fluttering shut, his slightly sunburned cheeks from yesterday flushing slightly from the contact. Michael’s not sure if he’s supposed to make the first move or not, nervous from all the close calls they’ve had so far in so many places now. 

“Luke?” he asks quietly, voice just barely over a whisper. Luke’s eyes flutter back open, turning to look back at Michael, and Michael can feel the kaleidoscope of butterflies in his stomach churning excitedly at the gentle way his eyes slide over Michael’s face. “Can I…” He trails off, unsure of how to ask. Luke just lets out a soft laugh, like bells ringing in the distance as he reaches out and brushes a blond lock of hair out of Michael’s face. 

“Please,” he whispers, tongue darting out to wet his lips in anticipation. Michael swallows, holding back his nerves as he takes a breath and leans in, finally pressing his lips to Luke’s after so many failed attempts yesterday. 

Luke tastes like Pepsi and popcorn and nacho cheese, but also like sunshine and soft touches and everything Michael’s ever wanted in a tender moment like this. Michael’s fingers curl into Luke’s curls a little bit more, making a soft and gentle noise as he presses his mouth against Luke’s more urgently. Michael thinks for a moment that maybe he’s being a little too forward, but Luke makes his own soft noise, his hand coming up to caress Michael’s jaw lightly as he leans into the kiss as well. Michael curses the arm rest between them, hard and cold and in the way as he kisses the breath out of Luke’s lungs. 

It’s not long before they’re pulling back for air, lips kissed red and their chests heaving slightly, and Michael makes the bold move to kiss at Luke’s jaw, featherlight as he leaves a slight trail over his skin. “Michael…” Luke warns softly, his own hand twisting into Michael’s locks as he arches his neck to give him more to work with. “Just… don’t leave a mark where someone will see it…” He whispers the words, but they still dig into Michael’s skin a little bit, and he just sighs against Luke’s neck as his teeth graze lightly over the skin there. 

“Don’t want everyone back home to know you’ve been fooling around on your cross country trip?” he hums against Luke’s skin, looking up at him. Luke flushes under the dim lights of the movie screen, images flashing across it. “That’s fine, just as long as we’re on the same page…” Michael doesn’t want to think too hard about the predicament they’re in, or the fact that Luke’s leaving in the next day or so. He’ll take what he can get, even if it’s stolen touches and kisses in the back of a dark movie theater. He’s desperate for this form of human contact, something he hasn’t been able to get in years. Luke hums softly at the feeling of Michael’s mouth on his neck, tugging lightly at his hair. 

“Maybe just kissing here,” Luke says softly, his breath hitching as Michael drags his teeth over the skin on his neck. Michael pulls back a little, and he hopes that the dim lighting doesn’t show off how desperate and touch starved he looks and feels right now. “Just… don’t want to get too carried away in the middle of a movie.” He lets out a breathless laugh, and Michael joins him, cheeks pink as he reaches up and brushes golden curls out of his eyes. He can hear Calum sighing at the both of them from the row in front of them, but he doesn’t think too much about it.

“That makes plenty of sense to me,” he says bashfully. “Sorry if I got carried away, just… been a while, I guess.” Luke offers him a soft smile, hand still buried into Michael’s blond locks as he nods knowingly. 

“I get that,” he says with a gentle laugh. “But I do like kissing you… a lot…” He bites his bottom lip between his teeth, and Michael just leans in again, smile quirking up the corners of his pink mouth. 

“Then why are you still talking, silly,” Michael laughs softly. Luke laughs too, pink cheeks evident even in the dark theater before leaning in and kissing him again, softer and slower this time. Luke’s fingers move from Michael’s hair to rest at the back of his neck, pulling him in gently as Michael’s fingers return to Luke’s curls easily. Luke’s mouth is soft and gentle against his, his touch light on the back of his neck as they kiss softly, tenderly as the loud movie plays behind them. 

The remainder of the movie is spent like that: gentle lingering touches and soft kisses, being broken apart by Calum clearing his throat and giving them a pointed look. They pull back with a giggle, blushing and giddy, but eventually find their way back to kissing within a few minutes. Calum eventually gives up on them, rolling his eyes at their incessant kissing, and Luke just pulls Michael closer with a grin as they kiss each other. 

They break apart fully when the house lights come back up, almost shocked by the brightness as they pull apart from one another. Luke’s cheeks are pink and his mouth is kissed red, a hand coming up to his curls to fix any of the tousling that Michael had done to them. Michael fixes the collar of his shirt, certain he looks just as wrecked as Luke does, and they both just giggle a little as they attempt to make themselves look presentable. 

“Come on, lovebirds, it’s time to go,” Calum says, his tone slightly annoyed. Michael feels a little bit bad for him, but he can’t help but hang onto that nagging voice in the back of his head that still curiously wonders what purpose he serves. He shoves it out of the way as he gets out of his seat, collecting his trash and their cup. Luke bashfully collects his still mostly full bag of popcorn, popping a kernel into his mouth as they make their way out of the theater. 

“This was nice,” Luke says with a shy smile, a little more reserved now that they’re out of the comfort of the dark theater. “It’s been a while since i’ve been able to do something like that. I’m glad I got to do it with you, Mike.” Michael’s cheeks blush a little pinker than before, chewing on his bottom lip nervously as he smiles a little bit over to Luke. 

“Same for me,” Michael says softly. “I really enjoyed this. It was nice. Even if you’re leaving soon, it was nice to have a moment to remind me that I’m not alone out there, you know?” Luke nudges Michael’s shoulder with his own playfully.  
“Makes me never want to leave,” Luke offers lightly, and Michael shakes his head. 

“I’d give anything to leave,” he says softly. “Too much has happened here for me to ever really be happy here. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to. My dreams aren’t going anywhere, that’s for sure, so… I’m reserved to be a small town boy forever.” Luke frowns a little bit, and he wishes he could reach out and hold his hand. He knows he can’t, so their fingers just brush against one another lightly, a hint of everything they want and can’t have. 

“I’d love to hear about your dreams,” Luke says softly, giving him a tender smile. 

“Nah, my dreams are stupid. Nothing but a fantasy, as my parents would have told me,” he shrugs a little bit. “Bet your dreams are better. Good looking guy like you could do whatever he wanted to, I’m sure.” Luke ducks his head down a little, shrugging himself before popping another piece of popcorn into his mouth, making their way out of the front of the mall. 

“You’d be surprised,” Luke mumbles under his breath. Michael cocks an eyebrow at him and Luke just smiles in reply. “Do you want a ride home? I feel bad making you walk.” 

“Yeah, that would be nice,” he says. “Don’t spoil me too much, now. I’m going to end up getting lazy and having to get a car myself.” Michael laughs to himself a little. As if he could ever get a car. 

“Cool,” Luke says with a smile, and he looks at Calum with a smile, and Calum just sighs at how insufferable the two of them are together. Whatever Calum gets paid, he thinks, he must need a raise because he and Luke are up to no good. Luke just grins wider and tugs him along towards the car, and Michael never wants these moments to end.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael really doesn’t want the moment to end when Calum pulls up outside of his apartment, mouth on Luke’s again and fingers tangled back into his hair. Calum clears his throat and the noise pulls them apart. Michael is breathless and dizzy from the feel of Luke, and he hates that he has to leave. He doesn’t want him to. He wants to keep him to himself for as long as possible.

“This is me,” he says under his breath, looking up at Luke with big green eyes. “When are you leaving?” 

“Not tomorrow, but the morning after,” he says softly, tucking a tousled blond curl behind his ear. “Tomorrow’s my last full day.” Michael chews on his bottom lip a little bit. 

“Okay,” he says softly. “Do you wanna do anything tomorrow? We don’t have to or anything. Actually, you probably have to like, pack and stuff. So nevermind.” He offers Luke an almost watery smile. “I’ll, uh, see you later, then.” Michael reaches for the handle of the door, and Luke stops him, hand coming up to cup his cheek softly. 

“Can I come in and see your place?” he asks softly, blue eyes hesitant before looking over at Calum, who sighs, and then his gaze falling back onto Michael. “Hang out for a little bit longer? We had most of yesterday… I want to make the most of today, too.” Michael swallows a little bit, green eyes meeting Luke’s blues before he nods.

“Uh, yeah, that’s fine with me,” he says. 

“Head on up and I’ll meet you there, lemme just talk to Cal real quick,” he says with a soft grin. “Which number are you?” 

“Four,” he says, opening the door to the car. “I’ll meet you up there.” He clambers out of the car, heart racing in his chest and trying not to panic as he adjusts his bag on his shoulder and makes his way up to his apartment. He unlocks the door but waits nervously out front of it. He wonders for a moment what Luke and Calum could be talking about, but then thinks that it’s really none of his business, so he just stands quietly by the door, waiting. 

Luke comes up the stairs after a few minutes, smiling softly at Michael. “Just gotta call Calum when we’re all done to come and get me,” he hums softly, giving him a shy smile. Michael returns it before opening the door to his apartment, and he’s so fucking glad that he cleaned it the other day because he would have been wildly embarrassed to have Luke inside of a very messy apartment. 

“Well, this is me,” he shrugs, taking his shoulder bag off and hanging it up by the door. He pulls off his sneakers with a sigh, stretching his arms up over his head. He looks over his shoulder to see Luke looking around his shoebox of an apartment, feeling a little embarrassed just because of that as Luke pulls off his sneakers. “It’s not much, but it’s home, you know?” 

“It’s cute,” Luke says with a smile, and Michael’s heart warms a little bit. “Cozy. I like it a lot.” Michael takes his hand easily, squeezing gently as he leads him further into the apartment. 

“As you can see, kitchen’s right here, and my living room is right here,” he gestures between the two of them. “Bathroom’s door on the right, bedroom’s on the left.” Michael chews on his lip a little bit before he hears a meow, and he looks down to see an orange shape rubbing up against him. “Oh, and of course, the star of the show. The infamous Leonardo DiCatrio. But Leo for short.” He lets go of Luke’s hand to bend over and pick him up, the cat purring immediately as Michael gets a hand under his chin. Luke looks at him fondly over Michael’s shoulder, reaching a hand over to smooth over Leo’s fur, to which he purrs louder. 

“Is he like this with everyone?” Luke chuckles a little bit, moving his hand to scratch under Leo’s chin, the cat purring and his tail twitching enthusiastically. 

“He doesn’t usually see anyone but me, so he likes whenever he has company,” Michael says softly, adjusting his grip on the cat a little bit. Leo pulls away from Luke’s touch and rubs his face against Michael’s, and Michael laughs a little bit. “Yeah, yeah, I know, you love me best.” He sets the cat back down on the carpet, watching him trot over to the couch to get comfortable for the evening. 

“Does your family not visit much?” Luke asks, and the question feels like a dagger to the back. He knows it shouldn’t hurt as much as it does, but it always does. He knows Luke means well, though, and he has no reason not to be honest with him. He has maybe a day left with him, and he’ll probably become a memory to him, anyways. 

“I don’t have a family anymore,” he says with a shrug. “Got kicked out when I was 15.” Luke’s face falls a little bit, and his hand reaches out to take Michael’s into his own gingerly. “I don’t need you to feel sorry for me or anything like that, like, I’m a happier person since I’m _myself_ , you know? But… doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck sometimes.” 

“I get what you mean,” Luke shrugs. “My parents have always wanted me to be a certain kind of person, ever since I was little. They planned my life out for me, you know? And I didn’t want to be exactly what they wanted me to be. Which wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be, turns out.” Luke gestures to their hands, chuckling lightly. “But they still find a way to shove me into that box. And it’s hard to break free from that where I’m from, you know?” Michael nods a little bit. 

“Yeah, I know,” he says softly, sadness in the corners of his voice. “We make do with what we can, right?” He offers Luke a light smile as he squeezes his hand gently. “Would you care to see where the magic happens? Or rather, absolutely no magic at all because I live in the middle of fucking nowhere?” Luke lets out a little bit of a laugh, nodding slightly. 

“Show me where you bring all your other hot dates,” Luke says coyly, and Michael has to try really hard not to laugh as he smiles at him and tugs him along. He pushes his door open, once again grateful for his Sunday morning tidy up as he leads Luke into the little room. He doesn’t have much, just his bed pushed up against the wall and his clothes hanging in his closet, along with his stereo and his guitar perched in the opposite corner. Just enough to make him happy. 

“Here’s where the lack of action happens,” he says, letting go of his hand to perch himself down on his bed. He watches as Luke looks around his room, leaning back on his hands as he admires how he looks in his room. He does look a little out of place, maybe, but he still looks like he could fit. And that makes Michael’s heart swell just enough. Luke hums to himself as he looks over to Michael’s cassette collection before his eyes fall onto the beaten guitar in the corner. 

“Oh, do you play?” he asks, reaching over and picking it up. Michael sits up a little bit, scratching the back of his head bashfully, a slight blush coming over his cheeks as he nods a little bit. 

“Yeah, I do,” he says. “I haven’t played seriously in a few years, mostly just fucking around when I’m bored, but… yeah. Used to write my own songs too. They fucking sucked, but it made me happy, you know? Being able to express myself like that.” Luke smiles to himself, bringing the guitar over to him, plopping down on the floor cross-legged and looking at him expectantly. 

“Play something for me?” he asks, smiling up at him as he pushes his glasses up his nose with his free hand. Michael offers him a slight smile, taking the guitar from him and checking the tuning a little bit, reaching over into the tiny nightstand next to his bed until he fishes out a pick triumphantly. 

“Bet I can think of something you might like that I learned in high school,” he says as he sits back on his bed, balancing the guitar on his legs as he chews on his lip, trying to think of the right song to play for Luke. A song pops into his head, and he grins a little bit as he starts to pluck out the notes to _More Than Words_ by Extreme. It was a little sappy for his tastes, but he had a feeling that Luke might enjoy it as he starts to play it, singing along to the words quietly as he plays through the song. 

Luke watches him with wide eyes, intrigued and entranced as he plays along and sings the song. He makes it to the first pre chorus before Luke can’t resist the urge to join in, harmonizing with Michael effortlessly as they smile at one another, Luke hitting the falsetto without even trying. The moment feels incredibly soft and intimate in the best way, harmonizing with each other to this honestly sappy song. Michael’s heart swells a little bit as they look at each other, adoration in his eyes as Luke gets lost in the moment, his eyes sliding shut as he gets into the song. 

They reach the end of the song, quietly harmonizing on the last ‘more than words’, and they just smile at each other lightly for a moment. Michael sets his guitar down, leaning it up against his windowsill as he looks at Luke. “You’re a very talented singer, Luke,” he says softly, playing with his hands a little bit. Luke blushes slightly, leaning in and taking Michael’s hands into his own gently.

“You’re much more talented than I am,” Luke hums shyly, turning Michael’s palms upwards and tracing the lines on his palms with his fingertips. Michael blushes a little bit more. “Could make a name for yourself, I think.” Michael shakes his head a little bit. 

“Those thoughts are for dreamers,” he says softly. “You know what I want? Something I can have right now.” Luke looks up at him, canting his head to the side slightly as he blinks at him, eyelashes dusting lightly over his cheekbones in the dim lighting of  
Michael’s room. 

“And what’s that?” he asks softly. Michael tilts Luke’s chin up to look at him more clearly, both of them blushing. 

“You.” Luke lets out a soft gasp before Michael leans down and captures his mouth with his own for what seems like the thousandth time that night, but this time was the first time it felt fully _right_. No Calum, no dark movie theater, no street light lit backseat of a car. Just the two of them, fully themselves, kissing softly in Michael’s room, tucked away from the world that’s determined to shove them into a box they don’t fit in. Here, they can be free to be themselves, to be true to one another. There were no known secrets here. 

Michael pulls back after a moment, looking at Luke with longing in his eyes, and Luke sits up enough to climb onto the bed with Michael, giggling a little bit as he tugs at the collar of his shirt, taking the initiative and kissing him harder, fuller than before. There’s an unbridled passion behind it, a fire that wasn’t behind any of their other kisses from earlier. Michael wonders if it’s because they’re alone, or in his room, or what, but he’s not complaining. He leans into Luke’s touch, lets him pull him in as he kisses him fully and passionately, hands twisting into his short blond curls, easing him down onto the bed as they kiss softly. 

Michael’s whole body is on fire as he straddles Luke somewhat, bodies pressed together lightly as they kiss each other. Michael can hear the delicious little noises slipping from Luke’s throat, one hand tangled in his curls and the other moving down to caress his waist slightly, pressing his sweater up just enough to get the skin on skin contact that he so desperately craves. 

He pulls his mouth from Luke’s, peppering light kisses over his jaw as Luke whines softly beneath him, one hand tangled into Michael’s blond locks and the other running over his back, hand fisted in his Kay-Bee Toys polo. He arches his neck a little bit, Michael leaving kisses down the span of his skin. He nips lightly at the space between his throat and his collarbone, and Luke tugs lightly at his hair, making a soft noise. 

“This okay,” Michael asks against his skin, looking up at him. Luke nods a little bit, pushing Michael’s polo up his torso slightly as he looks down at him. 

“Off,” he mumbles, cheeks red as he makes the demand. Michael chuckles a little bit, sitting up and pulling his work polo off, tossing it onto the floor. Luke’s hands slide up over his slim frame, taking him in as he bites his lip lightly, looking drunk with want as they slide up to meet Michael’s greens. “You look so good, Mike…” Michael flushes a little bit, his hands dipping underneath the bottom of Luke’s patterned sweater. 

“You next, pretty boy,” he hums softly. Luke bites his bottom lip, kissed red by Michael, before sitting up enough to pull his oversized sweater off, tossing it into a pile on the floor. Michael bites his lip as he looks over Luke’s well built frame, hands sliding over his torso slowly. Luke lets out a soft noise at the feeling of Michael’s hands on him, slowly memorizing every mark and blemish and inch of his body as his eyes drink him in. “Pretty boy indeed… so fuckin’ pretty…” Luke pouts up at him slightly, hand twisting  
back into his blond locks and pulling him back down for another kiss. 

Michael hasn’t felt this way with someone in a really fucking long time, and he’d started to think that maybe he wasn’t ever going to feel this way. Then Luke blew into town like a tornado, pulling him into his little world like he was Dorothy being swept up on her way to Oz. Being with Luke, whether it be their chance meeting at his work, their moment in the sunflower field, or even now, is akin to being transported to an alternate universe where everything is in color for the first time, when before life had been black and white. 

Luke pulls him back to reality when he pulls his mouth away this time, hands sliding over Michael’s back as he leans up and nips at Michael’s jawline, eliciting a soft groan from his throat. Luke just grins against his skin, kissing a trail over his throat. Michael makes soft noises at the tiny affections, one hand firm on Luke’s bare side and the other pressing into the mattress between them, trying to keep himself grounded. Luke’s hands slide a little lower, over the swell of Michael’s ass before reaching around to the front of his pants, batting his lashes up at him as he pulls his mouth from Michael’s skin. 

“Is it okay if I…?” he trails off, biting his lip. Michael nods eagerly, and Luke unbuckles his belt deftly, like it’s something he has some practice with, unbuttoning the khakis easily. Michael feels the pressure from the pants on his growing erection lessening and he lets out a soft sigh as Luke pushes them down his thighs as best he can. Michael pulls them off easily, kicking them onto the floor with the growing pile, flushing a little more as he looks down at Luke who’s biting his lip.

“You too,” he says with a lopsided grin, hands moving to the button of Luke’s jeans. Luke lets out a soft laugh, just nodding an affirmation at him. Michael’s fingers work quickly, unbuttoning and unzipping Luke’s jeans and pulling them off of his long legs. The outline of his half hard cock is evident in his white briefs, and Michael’s breath catches in his throat at the sight, tossing Luke’s jeans to the floor. His hand slides up over Luke’s thigh, fingers ghosting over his length through his underwear, the most delicious sounding moan rolling off of Luke’s tongue. “Mmm, that sounds so good… you sound so good, Luke… wanna make you feel good, too…” 

“Please,” Luke whines softly, hips bucking up at the feeling of Michael’s hand sliding over him through his underwear. Michael just grins a little bit, fingers moving from it and getting a pout from Luke as he leans back up and kisses him softly on the mouth, sweet and sincere and full of care. Luke melts into it easily leaning into Michael’s touch as he kisses him back, equally full of adoration as his fingers slide up around the back of his neck, pulling him in closer. 

“Please what,” Michael whispers against his mouth, the corners quirking up a little bit as he looks down at him. Their eyes meet, mischievous green meeting pleading blue, and Luke just whines against his lips, fingers pressing into the back of Michael’s neck, the other sneaking its way between them, his own fingers brushing between Michael’s legs. Michael whimpers against Luke’s mouth, knees buckling a little as Luke runs his fingers against Michael’s length through his boxers. 

“Please touch me,” he says playfully, pulling his hand back. Michael shudders as soon as he loses the feeling of Luke’s warm hand through the fabric of his boxers. Who was he to deny him what he wanted, when he wanted the same exact thing so desperately? His hand slides back in between them, his teeth tugging at Luke’s kiss swollen bottom lip gently as he slides it over him through the fabric of his underwear.

“Like that, Luke?” he asks, looking up at him with a heavy lidded look. Luke just nods a little bit, breath catching in his throat as his hips move up in reaction to Michael’s hand rubbing him lightly through his underwear. Michael sits up a little bit, straddling Luke’s thighs as he looks down at him, fingers tracing his length through his underwear as he looks down at him with a slight smirk on his mouth. “Tell me, pretty boy, use your words…” 

“Y-yeah, I like it,” he stammers, biting his lip as he looks up at Michael. His pupils are blown wide from the contact, hips rolling up into every light touch that he gets. Michael just smiles down at him, fingertips dipping teasingly under the waistband of his underwear, and Luke’s breath hitches in his throat again as he looks up at Michael desperately. 

“Can I…?” he asks, pulling lightly at the waistband. Luke nods eagerly, biting his bottom lip, and that’s all the incentive Michael needs before tugging the underwear off of his frame. He tosses them aside carelessly before leaning down and kissing Luke softly, gently, a stark contrast to the moment they’d just shared. Luke’s hands slide to Michael’s waist, looking up to him with soft eyes as his fingers dip beneath the waistband of his boxers. He leans up and kisses Michael softly himself, one hand caressing his face as he smiles against his mouth. 

“You too,” he hums softly. Michael chuckles a little bit before nodding, pulling his own underwear off and tossing it aside. It’s been a long time since he’s been in this situation, vulnerable and open like this, but he’s so eager for this shared moment that it’s just a fleeting thought, a shooting star throughout the otherwise occupied galaxy of his mind. Luke giggles lightly, cheeks pink in this gentle moment shared between the two of them. Michael leans down and kisses his mouth one more time before sitting up a little bit. He licks his palm before taking Luke’s length into his hand, unfamiliar and exciting as he slowly strokes him, watching him with heavy eyes, soft noises coming from Luke’s mouth as he looks up at him.

“Sound so good,” Michael hums softly, and Luke smiles softly, still whining in the back of his throat as he looks up at Michael with wide eyes. Michael hums in the back of his throat, hand twisting as he slides his hand over Luke’s cock, each tug pulling another pretty noise from his pink mouth. Michael bites his bottom lip a little bit, watching how Luke squirms underneath his touch, short golden curls splayed over his pillows as he makes quiet noises, hips bucking into every movement of Michael’s hand as if he can’t get enough of it. 

Michael leans down and presses messy kisses over the skin of Luke’s arched neck, nipping at his collarbone and leaving a mark there, somewhere no one but the two of them will ever see it. Their own little secret, little proof of him being there other than the memories and ghosts of touches against their skin. Michael moves his hand a little faster, earning a full fledged moan from Luke’s mouth, and he grins proudly, leaning up and kissing him hard on the mouth to capture it from him. 

“Close,” Luke whines, and Michael runs his thumb over the head of his cock, already leaking precome as he bucks up into his fist. He tugs at Luke’s bottom lip again before sitting back up, hand moving steady on him as he looks down at him, memorizing the look of the large man writhing beneath him, panting and desperate against his sheets. It’s something he never wants to forget. 

“Come on, Luke, come for me,” he encourages, his thumb moving over the head of his cock again as he watches him with eager eyes. That pushes Luke over the precipice, head falling back fully as he comes over Michael’s hand and his stomach, whining loudly in the back of his throat, biting his lip to try not to be too loud. “That’s it, fuck…” Michael bites his lip as he watches him let go beneath him, his own hard dick twitching with interest as his hand stills on Luke. He takes in the sight of him once again, not able to get enough of the sight of his pink skin and the way his mouth falls open as he pants, coming down in a post coital bliss. 

“Fuck,” Luke groans out, chest still heaving a little as he looks up at Michael with a breathless laugh. Michael just smiles down at him, adoration in his eyes as he drinks in every last drop of the sight of him. 

“You look especially good when you come,” he murmurs, smiling a little as he leans down and captures Luke’s mouth into a sweet kiss. Luke hums against his mouth, a hand sliding into Michael’s blond locks before he flips their positions, laughing a little against his mouth. Michael laughs too, looking up at Luke with a soft grin once he pulls back from him. 

“My turn to see how good _you_ look,” Luke hums, licking his own palm before reaching down between them, fingers wrapping delicately around Michael’s length. Michael lets out a soft whine, the feeling of Luke’s fingers on his already painfully hard cock a welcome relief. He bites his bottom lip, looking up at Luke with big eyes, and Luke just smiles coyly, slowly dragging his hand up Michael’s length, eyes fixated on him. Michael’s hips move up in time with Luke’s hand, antsy and impatient for him to move faster. 

“Luke,” Michael whines softly, looking up at him. Luke just grins a little wider, his hand keeping up the same steady pace as he ducks his head down, sucking a mark into Michael’s collarbone to match the one Michael had left him. It was almost romantic, besides the fact that he was writhing underneath Luke’s touch, silently begging for more as he moans softly at the feeling of Luke’s hand on him. Sure, he wanted this moment to last as long as possible, but he also wanted to fucking get off, damn it. 

“So impatient,” Luke tuts, sighing against Michael’s skin before sitting himself back up, moving his hand a little faster, much to Michael’s relief. His hips move a little faster to keep up, the feeling of a foreign hand on him sending a shiver up his spine as he looks up at Luke, bottom lip tucked behind his teeth with concentration as he swipes his thumb over the head of Michael’s cock. Michael lets out a low groan at the feeling, heat pooling in his lower stomach as he looks up at him with big green eyes. “You like that, Mike?”

“Yeah,” Michael sighs, head rolling back against his pillow as he makes another soft noise. Luke hums in reply, repeating the motion as he twists his hand again, and Michael has to cover his mouth to bite back the loud moan that threatens to push past his lips. Luke grins triumphantly, hand twisting again, eager to hear the noise again. “Fuck, Luke, keep doing that… yeah…” 

Luke just hums in reply, watching Michael with an eager grin as he keeps up his hand movements. Michael’s not sure how much more of this he can take -- he’s almost seeing stars, body warm and the feeling of the edge curling in his stomach, threatening to pounce at any moment. Michael just whimpers a little more, and Luke grins a bit wider, leaning down and kissing Michael once, sweetly on the mouth. 

“You gonna come for me?” he asks softly, their mouths still touching as the question leaves his lips before he sits back up, and that’s the final straw for Michael. He can’t even give him a proper warning, just moaning in response, not having time to cover his mouth before it sneaks its way out, letting go. His whole face feels warm as he paints Luke’s fist and his own stomach with come, whining loudly in the back of his throat as he does. Luke just giggles a little bit through it, watching him with attentive eyes, like he’s drinking in the moment the same way that Michael had been with him.

“Fuck,” Michael manages after a moment, still trying to calm his breathing, and Luke bites his lip before laughing lightly. “That was… fuck, Luke…” He laughs again, groaning softly as he sinks back into the bed. Luke joins him with his own laugh before leaning over, noses brushing over one another before they kiss each other tenderly. Michael smiles against his mouth, wanting to never let go. 

They lay there like that for a couple of moments before they manage to pry themselves back apart, cleaning up and getting dressed again, Michael pulling on his pajamas and sitting on the edge of his bed as he watches Luke pull his clothes back on. He pulls his sweater over his head, covering the mark that Michael had left there, and Michael’s heart sinks into his stomach a little bit as his reminder is hidden from his sight. 

“I should call Calum and have him come get me,” Luke says quietly, cheeks still flushed. Michael hooks his fingers through his belt loops and pulls him to stand in between his legs, looking up at him with sad but adoring eyes. 

“Wish you didn’t have to leave,” Michael says softly, almost a whisper as he looks up at Luke. Luke drops his head down to press a kiss to Michael’s forehead before pressing theirs together gently, a hand in Michael’s hair, soothing over the back of it. “Wish we didn’t live in this stupid fucking world.” 

“Wish I didn’t have to go,” Luke replies, sighing softly. “I want to stay right here with you forever. Fuck, I want it more than I’ve wanted anything else.” He lets out a soft laugh, but it’s sad, and Michael can feel the hurt behind it. He knows the feeling. He’s been hurt like this before. 

“Everyone always has to leave, I’m used to it by now,” Michael laughs softly. “But it’s nice to pretend, even for a moment, a day, four days, whatever. You know? To pretend that your life can be normal, even for a second.” Luke just nods against him, and the air around them is heavy. 

“I would give anything to be normal with you,” Luke laughs softly, hand stilling in the back of his hair before pulling back. Michael just smiles sadly up at him, nodding a little bit in agreement. 

“Me too,” he says quietly. “But for now, we still have tomorrow.” He takes Luke’s hand and squeezes it gently. “Tomorrow’s not forever, but it’s good enough when I have you.” Luke squeezes his hand lightly before letting go, and Michael feels a little emptier without his touch. “Let’s go call Calum, I’ll wait with you.” 

They make their way out into the living room, and Luke calls Calum, who had reserved himself to waiting around the corner, so he was already on his way there, only moments left to spare. Michael chews on his lip as he watches Luke put his sneakers on, following him out to wait for Calum. They sit next to each other on the steps, watching as Calum pulls up, and Michael feels more hollow than he has in a long time. Luke squeezes his shoulder softly, dropping a barely there kiss to the top of his head. 

“Call me tomorrow?” Luke asks softly, and Michael nods.

“Tomorrow,” he promises. They smile sadly at each other before Luke gets into his car and goes off, leaving Michael alone in the cold.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael wakes up the next morning with a pit in his stomach, but he tries to ignore it as best he can. Sure, this is going to be Luke’s last full day here before he leaves, but Michael is going to do his best to pretend that’s not what’s happening today and go through the day as normally as he can.

He drags himself out of bed around 10 am, heading to the phone before he even bothers with breakfast. If he’s going to make the most of today, he’s going to do it bright and early, that’s for sure. He dials Luke’s number, chewing nervously on his bottom lip as he twirls the cord around his finger. The phone rings a couple of times before he answers, Michael’s heart swelling in his chest.

“Hello?” he hears Luke’s voice on the other line, and it’s like music to his ears. He smiles a little to himself, leaning against the counter.

“Hey, it’s me,” he says, resting his chin in his hand. “Big plans for today?” Luke laughs lightly on the other line, and Michael smiles a little bit. Damn it, he’s so fucking far gone. He needs to get it together, and fast, or tomorrow’s gonna hurt more than he wants it to. 

“I don’t know, you got any big plans for me?” he asks, and there’s a smile in his voice, Michael can hear it. He hates the way he’s feeling right now. This isn’t going to be very good for him, he thinks. But that’s tomorrow Michael’s problem, he thinks, shoving the thoughts into a box in his head as he laughs in reply on the phone.

“Well, there’s not a whole lot of things to do on a Tuesday here,” he says with a laugh. “And I’ve taken you to all the hot spots. Movies, apple orchard, the McDonald’s ball pit. The necessities, if you will.” Michael warms at the sound of Luke’s laugh on the other end. “We could just hang out here, if you want? I can get snacks, we can play video games, you know? I have plenty of things to keep us busy here.” 

“I’m sure you do,” he hums a little bit. “Let me finish getting all packed and then I’ll head over, so give me like, an hour or so?” Michael sighs softly into the receiver, nodding a little bit before remembering that Luke can’t see him.

“That sounds good, I can scoot over to the store and pick some stuff up,” he says with a shrug. “It can be a nice, easy day before… you know.” He chews on his bottom lip a little bit, sighing into the phone.

“It’ll be a good day,” Luke affirms. “I’ll have Calum drop me off in like an hour. I’ll see you then.” Michael smiles softly into the phone, nodding even though he knows Luke can’t see him.

“See you then.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael hates going to the store, but on top of getting snacks, he needed a few things, so two birds with one stone, right? He just got paid as well, so it seemed like a good time to stock up on all of his groceries anyways. He keeps to himself as he gets his essentials, ignoring the stares and whispers about him that he’s so very used to. They never have the gall to do it when he’s at work, but anywhere else, people love to fucking gossip about him. He fucking hates it. He sighs as he tosses a box of Pop-Tarts into his cart, wishing he’d brought his headphones with him to tune out all the bullshit.

The thing about growing up in a small town is that everyone knows everyone else, so naturally nothing about Michael’s adolescent life was a secret. Ever since the events that had occurred throughout his high school years, between his getting kicked out of his parents house for his sexuality to now, it was all common knowledge. That may be part of why he wants to leave town so badly. And a reason he doesn’t truly want to seek the music career he’d pined for when he was 16. He doesn’t think he could take the pressure. 

He pushes the intrusive thoughts back into their designated box in his mind as he makes his way to the next aisle. He rolls his eyes as he pushes past the rack of magazines, all the ones designated for teens front and center as he makes his way down the aisle. Something familiar catches the corner of his sight, however, and he furrows his brow as he turns, looking more closely at the magazine cover. 

It’s a copy of _Tiger Beat_ magazine, and on the cover of it was a picture of Luke. That couldn’t be possible. He pulls it off of the rack, ignoring the photos of all the other celebrities on the cover as he closes in on Luke. It says some stupid headline about him being a teen heartthrob above the name _Luke Hemmings_ , and Michael almost drops the magazine in the middle of the store. 

He takes a moment and puts the magazine back on the rack, chewing on his bottom lip as he pushes along, heading to the checkout. Luke wasn’t just another fucking yuppie on a getaway. No, he was a _pop star_. Popular enough to warrant being on the front of teen magazines and have posters of him inside. He must have been the one who was playing the concert in the mall on Saturday. It explains so much about _everything_ \-- why he had Calum, why he was so hesitant in public places, why he was so talented and stylish and good looking… Fuck.

He forces himself to stop quietly spiraling long enough to get his stuff up onto the check out, smiling politely at the cashier who just returns it with a forced smile of her own, not bothering to make any small talk. He was more than used to it at this point anyways. He pays for his things, taking the bags and starting the walk home, trying to think of how he’s going to confront Luke about this.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael is nervously pacing in his kitchen, thoughts swirling through his head as he waits for Luke to get there. He wonders to himself when he got so stupid, so inattentive and out of tune with what’s going on in the current world that he didn’t even recognize that he’d been going on dates with a fucking _pop star_. He’s chewing on his thumbnail, a nervous habit he’d tried to grow out of in the last year or so since he’d been all alone. The massive mountain of anxiety that this realization had brought upon him, however, was not helping how he was trying to overcome it.

He stills when he hears the knock at his door, mentally still spiraling and trying to get himself together. He’s got an inner battle going on, whether he’s going to confront Luke or not about it. He only has today left with him before he goes, sure, but he’s deeply wounded by the fact that Luke wouldn’t tell him who he was. He sighs, trying to push the thoughts away as he makes his way to the door, opening it. 

Luke’s on the other side, beaming at him as he pushes golden curls out of his face, a contrast to the straight hair he’d met him with and he’d been met with on the cover of the magazine. He’s dressed comfortably today, in jeans and a white shirt, no sweater to be seen since it’s a fairly mild day for October. He offers him as genuine of a smile as he can in return to his beaming smile as Luke steps inside, pulling off his sneakers. 

“Sorry I’m late, had to make sure I had everything all put away so I don’t forget anything here,” he says with a slight sigh, reaching down to scratch Leo’s head, who had trotted over to Luke expectantly when he came inside. “Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.” 

“No, no, not really,” he says dismissively as he shuts the door. He’s still nervous, still thinking, thoughts jumbled up in his brain and rattling around like hornets in their nest. Luke turns to look at him, and his brow furrows, and Michael knows he can tell something’s off. Fuck. He wishes he was better at hiding his feelings. He fucking hates it. 

“Is everything okay?” he asks softly, hand tousling his blond curls. “You look perplexed.” Michael goes back to chewing on his thumb nervously, trying to pick out the best thing to say from the multitude of thoughts in his head. “Hey, you can talk to me about anything, you know? You can trust me.” Those words were like Luke was twisting a proverbial knife into his guts, and Michael knew he couldn’t pretend everything was all peaches and cream. 

“ _Can_ I trust you?” he asks, giving Luke an exasperated look. Luke’s brow furrows a little bit more. 

“Of course you can, Michael,” he says, confusion evident in his voice. “What could possibly make you think otherwise?” Michael sighs as he passes Luke, dropping himself down onto the couch. He can’t do this right now. He knows he has to, he’s already said too much, but he doesn’t fucking want to. 

“Because you lied to me,” he says, sitting back on the couch and looking over to Luke, still hovering in the doorway. A range of emotions come over Luke’s face before settling with realization of what Michael must have found out. 

“Michael, let me explain myself,” he starts. Michael just shakes his head, burying his face in his hands as he sighs before looking back over at Luke.

“What’s there to explain?” he gripes. “You didn’t tell me who you really were. What, do you travel all over the country, playing shows in towns trying to find people who don’t know you so you can pull them in and let them get close to you just to fucking ruin them?” Luke’s face falls at Michael’s hurtful words.

“Michael, it’s not like that,” he insists, and there’s a hint of desperation in his voice. 

“Really? Then what is it, then?” he asks. “Did you not trust _me_ enough? After I’ve trusted you so much with so much of my own stupid fucking meaningless life?” He sighs a little bit, sinking back into his couch, fighting back tears that are threatening to spill from his eyes. “God, it’s a good fucking thing I didn’t tell you about Aiden.” 

“No, Michael, I trust you, I just… It’s complicated,” Luke says. “I was going to tell you before I left, really. I didn’t know, I didn’t think…” he trails off. “Wait, who’s Aiden?” 

“No one anymore,” Michael bites back. “And no, you didn’t think. Didn’t think about how this could affect me. God, I can’t believe I let myself get strung along by some fucking asshole like you.” Luke’s face falls again. 

“Maybe I should go,” he suggests. The words are soft and subtle, but there’s so much hurt behind them. 

“There’s no fucking maybe about it,” Michael says back, looking at him. The tears are evident in his green eyes, but he will not let this man see him cry. “This is the worst mistake I’ve ever made. You _should_ go.” Luke shuffles in the doorway for a moment, Leo making his way over to Michael’s lap and curling up, knowing that’s where he’s needed most right now. 

“I need you to know that this,” Luke says as he puts on his shoes, gesturing between the two of them, “none of this was a _mistake_ to me. None of it was fake, either. Regardless of whether or not I was entirely truthful with you about who I was.” Michael just glares daggers at him, and Luke sighs, looking like he might cry himself. “I’m sorry. I… have a good life, I guess.” 

Michael watches Luke as he shuts the door behind him, and all of his walls come crashing down as he lets himself cry for the first time in two years.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael is very surprised when there’s a knock at his door around 8pm.

He’s reserved himself to the couch for the night, having eaten a good portion of the snacks he’d bought for the day he was supposed to share with He Who Shall Not Be Named, while crying for the majority of it. He hates that he let himself be reduced to this, to a puddle of feelings and desperation over someone he’s only known for three days. With Aiden, it had made sense when he left. It made sense to hurt for that. That was three years. But three days? That was something to blink at and wonder why he let himself get pulled into this whirlwind. 

He peels himself off the couch, disturbing Leo who meows at him annoyedly. “Sorry, buddy,” Michael says softly, rubbing the red out of his eyes. Whoever’s at the door knocks again, and Michael has no clue who could be here at this time of fucking day, but he goes to answer it anyways. 

He opens it and then immediately shuts it again when he sees it’s Calum on the other side of the door. Fuck. Why is Calum here? Did Luke forget something? Damn it, he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about him. Fuck. 

“Michael, can you just open for a minute? I just have something for you,” Calum sighs from the other side of the door, exasperated. Michael’s thumb is in his mouth again, chewing at the nail anxiously as he paces before sighing and wrenching the door open. 

“I see he couldn’t come himself,” Michael says dryly, looking up at Calum. He looks intimidating, with his dark clothes and his buzzed hair and his Doc Martens, but there’s a certain something in his eyes that shows a softness that Michael hadn’t noticed before. (Or maybe he just wasn’t looking.)

“He was too beside himself so I opted to go instead,” Calum says with a shrug. Michael wonders if he’s just trying to make him feel guilty about what he’d said. (Maybe he does feel a little guilty. Maybe he was a little too harsh. There were a lot of maybes surrounding the whole thing.) Calum pulls a tape from his pocket, and Michael’s face falls, thinking he’s returning the tape he’d given Luke before seeing that it’s got different things scribbled on the insert. “He made this for you and insisted I bring it to you. He was going to give it to you tomorrow morning before he left, he made it last night.” Michael takes the tape into his hands, skeptical. 

“I really shouldn’t take this,” he says, holding it gingerly in his hands, as if it’s as fragile as his heart feels right now. 

“Luke insisted you have it,” Calum says. “Look, I know we weren’t honest with you about Luke’s… situation. It’s always tricky when you’re in a position like this. But I’ve been working with Luke for the last two years, and I’ve been all over the country with him, and I’ve never once seen him happier than he was these last few days with you.” Michael’s heart sinks to the bottom of his stomach. “Luke’s flight leaves from the airport at 11am tomorrow morning if you change your mind about any of this. Just… know that he didn’t want to hurt you. That was never his intention. And I tell you that not just as someone who works for him, but as his closest friend.” 

Michael chews on his bottom lip nervously, still looking at the front of the tape in his hands. “Thank you,” is all he can manage to say, looking up at Calum. He just offers Michael a slight smile before turning and leaving. Michael shuts the door behind him before sighing and making his way into his bedroom where his stereo is. 

Normally he isn’t one to play music out loud around this time of night (on a weeknight, at that), but he’s compelled to as he pulls out the tape that Luke has left him. He puts it into the player, pushing in the compartment and pressing play on the tape, letting the Spice Girls of all bands fill the space of his room. He looks over at the front of the tape, which just says ‘ _Luke’s (Better) Taste in Music Mixtape for Michael_ ’ with some small hearts scribbled in colored sharpie. Michael can feel the tears welling up in his eyes again as he falls back onto his floor, listening to the tape as he wallows against his carpet. 

When _More Than Words_ by Extreme comes on, the song they had dueted together in this very room, Michael feels his heart break in two. Fuck. He’s fucked up. Almost every single song on this tape is a fucking love song and he should have gotten the fucking hint and he fucking didn’t. He thought Luke was just toying with him, playing around to get his thrills until he could go off to the next town and find someone better. 

But no. If what Calum had told him was true, and this mixtape was telling of how Luke felt about him, the Michael had made such a huge fucking mistake in pushing him away. It seemed that pushing people away was all that Michael had been good at, apparently. Fuck, he was going to ruin anything that ever could have been, even if Luke had to go. 

And he had to make things right, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Michael’s only been to the airport in town once, and it was when he was little and distant family was coming to visit. He remembers it being very big and loud and confusing, but he thought maybe that’s just because he was so little.  
Upon setting foot in the airport for the first time as an adult, he finds that it’s just as confusing and big and loud as he found it to be when he was a child. He had no idea where he was going, what he was doing, nothing like that. His only thought was that he needed to find Luke and he needed to do it in the next hour before he leaves, never to be seen again.

He should have asked Calum, should have thought to get some semblance of an idea of what terminal he would be leaving from, where he was going, any of it. But he thought that maybe Luke would be easy to find in a crowd, being as tall and blond and recognizable as he is. 

Maybe he _was_ right about that part, at the very least. 

He was looking around hesitantly, hoping there would be some sign of him anywhere, somewhere in this airport, but it wasn’t long before his eyes did find him. Surrounded by teenagers, all looking for a picture or an autograph or anything. He could see Calum trying to fend them off, looking a little helpless, and their eyes meet for a moment, and Calum just smiles at him softly. 

“Okay, okay, no more pictures, ladies, Luke has a flight to catch,” Calum says sternly, and they all collectively whine at differing pitches of annoyance. Michael looks at Calum, gesturing towards the bathroom with his head before heading towards it. He figured that would be the safest place for him to see Luke, talk to him. 

He stands nervously in the bathroom, leaning against the sink a little bit, chewing on his thumb again nervously. He needs to kick that habit when he gets anxious, he reminds himself. Or maybe he needs to see a therapist. Just another thing on the list of reasons why people in town can whisper about him behind his back, he thinks. 

Calum corrals Luke into the bathroom, who looks confused and a little distressed from being surrounded by a flock of teenage girls. “Cal, I don’t have to go to the bathroom, I’m not a child anymore…” his voice trails off when he sees Michael leaning against the sink. 

“Five minutes,” Calum says, before closing the bathroom door and presumably keeping guard. Luke and Michael look at one another, the air between them full of tension as neither one knows quite what to say yet. Michael pulls his thumb from his mouth, scuffing his Doc Marten boot against the tile of the bathroom floor. It looks like it’s seen better days, he thinks to himself. Just like him. Was he really likening himself to an airport bathroom floor? Fuck.

“I didn’t think I was going to see you again,” Luke says softly. “You were so upset, I… I deserved everything you said to me.” Michael shakes his head, closing the distance between them before taking his hands into his own. 

“No, you didn’t,” he says with a shake of his head. “I was terrible to you. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I’m so fucking sorry, Luke, I just… I was angry and upset because I’m so used to being used and tossed aside and I just… thought you were doing the same thing to me.”

“Michael, I would never do that to you,” he says softly. “I… I’ve never felt like this about anyone before. I know we just met, I know we’ve known each other for less than a week, but… god, I don’t even know, I probably sound stupid.” Michael shakes his head a little bit, squeezing Luke’s hands gently. 

“No, you couldn’t possibly,” he says with a laugh. “We were always working on borrowed time, it’s okay for us to feel strongly.” Luke gives him a sad smile, understanding. “I listened to your mixtape and I realized how fucking stupid I had been.” 

“God, it was unnecessarily sappy, I know,” he says, cheeks warming. Michael shakes his head a little bit, laughing lightly. 

“Certainly wasn’t my cup of tea, but it was really fucking lovely,” he says softly. “God, I’m sorry I accused you of using me, Luke, we lost a whole fucking day because I’m a such a terrible piece of shit.”

“No, no, I should have been honest with you from the start,” he says softly. “I just… I was afraid if I told you who I was, you would treat me differently, like… less of a person. Like everyone else.” Michael reaches up and brushes hair out of Luke’s face, hand resting on his cheek gently. 

“I would never do that to you,” he says with a soft smile. “I know I’m practically a stranger, sure, but I just… really fucking like you. Pop star or not, you know?” Luke smiles softly, leaning into Michael’s touch. 

“I really fucking like you too,” he says softly. “I wish we had more time. I wish I didn’t have to go. But I have to go play a show three states over tonight, and… you know. I have to.” Michael smiles sadly at him, nodding a little bit. 

“I know,” he says gently. “I wish we had more time too.” Calum knocks on the bathroom door twice.

“One more minute,” he says, and Luke and Michael look at each other, sadness and adoration in their eyes. Luke leans down and kisses Michael, and he melts into it. It’s everything he could ever want in a kiss -- soft, tender, loving. But it’s still sad around the edges. The implications of it, that this could be it for them, that this could be the last time either one of them see each other again… Michael could feel it tugging at his heartstrings. Suddenly his face was hot and wet with tears, and he’d started fucking _crying_ again, but he couldn’t let that ruin the moment. 

Luke pulls back, tears on his own face, unable to hold it in either as he brushes one away from Michael’s cheek. “I think I’m in love with you,” Luke whispers, soft and low, almost inaudible. Michael just smiles sadly back at him. 

“I’ve been in love before,” he says quietly. “And this feels exactly the damn same way.” Calum knocks on the door again, warning them it was time to go. “Fuck. I wish we had more time.”  
Luke nods, sniffling a little, wiping at his own face with the sleeves of his brightly colored windbreaker. “Me too,” he sniffles. “I’ll write to you for now, until I can come back for you.” Luke looks him in the eyes, putting his hands firmly on his shoulders. “I _will_ come back for you, Michael, I promise.” There’s the sound of the voice of a woman announcing a flight boarding, and Luke curses under his breath. 

“I know you will,” he says softly. “Until then, you know where to find me.” Luke gives him a watery smile, and Calum pushes the door open, giving them a sad but stern look, reluctant to cut the moment short but knowing he has no choice. This sucks for all of them.

“I’ll be back for you, Michael, I promise you,” Luke repeats one more time, and he presses one last ghost of a kiss to Michael’s mouth, desperate and messy and salty and sad. He pulls back and looks at Calum knowingly before following him out of the bathroom. Michael watches him as he goes, making his way out of the bathroom as he keeps his gaze on him until the brightly colored windbreaker is out of his sight, and he’s left alone again. 

There’s an empty feeling in his chest where his heart was before, and he wonders how he’s supposed to go on with his life when his heart is going on tour across the United States. He laughs a little at himself, like he hasn’t felt this way before. This isn’t a new feeling, heartbreak. 

But Luke will be back for him. 

He promised.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me/yell at me on [tumblr](http://cakelftv.tumblr.com)!


End file.
